Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan

Dame Tini "Whetu" Marama Tirikatene-Sullivan, ONZ (9 January 1932 – 20 July 2011) 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 excelled in dancing, winning the New Zealand Ballroom and Latin American Dancing Champion with her Australian partner Mr K. Mansfield, and was also accomplished in fencing, becoming one of the top four female fencers in the country. She studied for a Ph.D. in Political Science at the Australian National University, with a thesis ‘Contemporary Maori Political Involvement’. While there, she met and married Denis Sullivan, a Ph.D. physics student who later became an associate professor in physics and astrophysics at Victoria University of Wellington.

Member of Parliament

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate		Party
1967–1969	35th	Southern Maori		Labour
1969–1972	36th	Southern Maori		Labour
1972–1975	37th	Southern Maori		Labour
1975–1978	38th	Southern Maori		Labour
1978–1981	39th	Southern Maori		Labour
1981–1984	40th	Southern Maori		Labour
1984–1987	41st	Southern Maori		Labour
1987–1990	42nd	Southern Maori		Labour
1990–1993	43rd	Southern Maori		Labour
1993–1996	44th	Southern Maori		Labour

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 1972–1975 she was the Minister of Tourism. She was re-elected by substantial majorities until the 1996 elections, 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 1993, Tirikatene-Sullivan was made a member of the Order of New Zealand, the highest award given by the New Zealand government. She died in Wellington on 20 July 2011.

References

• Women in Parliamentary Life 1970-1990: Hocken Lecture 1993 by Marilyn Waring, page 36-37 (Hocken Library, University of Otago, 1994) ISBN 0 902041 614

Parliament of New Zealand
Preceded by Eruera Tirikatene	Member of Parliament for Southern Maori 1967–1996	Constituency abolished, replaced by Te Tai Tonga