Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan


Tini "Whetu" Marama Tirikatene-Sullivan was a New Zealand politician. She was an MP from 1967 to 1996, representing the Labour Party. At the time of her retirement, she was the second longest-serving MP in Parliament, being in her tenth term of office. She was one of twenty holders of the Order of New Zealand, the highest honour of the country.

Early life

Whetu Marama Tirikatene was born on 9 January 1932, the daughter of Eruera Tirikatene and Ruti Tirikatene. She was raised at Rātana Pā by her grandmother, dress designer and tailor Amiria Henrici Solomon. Educated at Rangiora High School and Wellington East Girls' College, she excelled in dancing, winning the New Zealand amateur Latin American ballroom dancing championship with her Australian partner Kevin Mansfield, and was also accomplished in fencing, becoming one of the top four female fencers in the country. She studied for a PhD in political science at the Australian National University, with the topic "Contemporary Maori Political Involvement". While there, she met and married Denis Sullivan, a PhD physics student who later became an associate professor in physics and astrophysics at Victoria University of Wellington.

Member of Parliament

Tirikatene stood unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in the for.
Tirikatene-Sullivan was first elected to Parliament in the Southern Maori by-election of 1967, which was prompted by the death of the long-serving incumbent—her father Sir Eruera Tirikatene. Between 1972 and 1975 she was the Minister of Tourism. She was Minister for the Environment from 1974 to 1975. She was re-elected by substantial majorities until the 1996 election, when the Southern Maori electorate was abolished in the transition to MMP. Tirikatene-Sullivan then contested the new Te Tai Tonga electorate, which covered much of the same territory as the old Southern Maori electorate, but she was narrowly defeated by Tu Wyllie of New Zealand First. She subsequently retired from politics.
In 1970 Tirikatene-Sullivan was the first woman to give birth whilst a sitting MP. She later became the first cabinet minister to give birth to a child.
On 6 February 1993, Tirikatene-Sullivan was appointed a Member of the Order of New Zealand, the highest civilian award given by the New Zealand government. The same year, she was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal. She died in Wellington on 20 July 2011.