Ngereteina Puna Explained
Ngereteina Puna (born 1938) is a former Speaker of the Cook Islands Parliament and Cabinet Minister. He is the older brother of Prime Minister Henry Puna.[1]
Puna grew up on Aitutaki. After graduating from Ardmore Teachers' Training College and the University of Auckland in New Zealand, he worked as a teacher.[2] At the 1989 election he was elected as MP for Arutanga-Reureu-Nikaupara.[2] After retiring from politics at the 1999 election he was appointed Speaker of the Cook Islands Parliament, a position he held from 1999 until 2001.[2] [3] He went on to serve as Minister of Education in the Cook Islands Party government of Geoffrey Henry from 2011 to 2012.[2]
In 1977, Puna was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal.[4] In the 1995 New Year Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the community.
Puna is currently based in Auckland, where he works as an advisor to Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.[2]
Puna is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.[5]
Puna's father, Tuakeu Manuela, was a Member of the Legislative Assembly, and his older brother William Estall also served as a Cabinet Minister.[1]
Notes and References
- Web site: New PM sworn in today . Cook Islands News . 2010-11-30 . 2010-12-05 . 7 December 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101207155642/http://www.cinews.co.ck/2010/December/Wed01/local.htm#1011300110 . dead .
- Web site: Family gathers . Cook Islands News . 2010-11-30 . 2010-12-05 . 7 December 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101207155642/http://www.cinews.co.ck/2010/December/Wed01/local.htm#1011300106 . dead .
- Web site: Former Members of the Cook Islands Parliament . Cook Islands Parliament . 2010-12-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090326003704/http://www.parliament.gov.ck/former.html . 26 March 2009 . dead .
- Book: Taylor . Alister . Coddington . Deborah . Alister Taylor . Deborah Coddington . Recipients of the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal 1977: nominal roll of New Zealand recipients including Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau . Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand . 1994 . New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa . Auckland . 0-908578-34-2 . 432.
- Book: Dancing from the Heart:Movement, Gender, and Cook Islands Globalization . 9780824832445. 2019-07-05. Alexeyeff. Kalissa. 23 March 2009. University of Hawaii Press .
