Tetangi Matapo Explained

Tetangi Matapo
Constituency Mp5:Tamarua
Parliament5:Cook Islands
Term Start5:29 January 2013
Predecessor5:Pukeiti Pukeiti
Birth Date:3 October 1965
Party:Cook Islands Democratic Party

Tetangi Matapo (born 3 October 1965)[1] is a Cook Islands politician and member of the Cook Islands Parliament. She is a member of the Cook Islands Democratic Party.

Matapo was born on Mangaia and educated at Mangaia School and Mangaia College.[1] She studied to be a teacher at the University of the South Pacific, graduating with a Bachelor of Education and a Masters of Education.[1] She worked as a teacher and later deputy principal at Mangaia School.[2] She was elected to Parliament in the 2013 Tamarua by-election.[3] In April 2013 she attended the inaugural Pacific Parliamentary Forum in Wellington, New Zealand.[4]

At the 2014 election, she lost the seat on the night to the Cook Islands Party's Tokorua Pareina, but regained it in an electoral petition.[5] In 2015, she was appointed opposition spokesperson for Education and Internal Affairs.[6] In 2016, she was part of the Cook Islands' delegation to the second Pacific Parliamentary Forum.[7]

She was re-elected at the 2018 election.[8] Shortly after the election she was sent to the 2018 Presiding Officers and Clerks Conference in Wellington as "interim Deputy Speaker", despite there having been no election for the position.[9] In December 2019 she was part of a protest by women MPs to permit the wearing of ei katu (floral crowns) in Parliament.[10] In February 2020 she was appointed Democratic Party spokesperson for Business, Trade and Investment Board, Education and Justice.[11]

She was re-elected at the 2022 Cook Islands general election.[12]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Tetangi MATAPO . Cook Islands Parliament . 14 August 2022.
  2. Web site: Teacher wins Tamarua . Moana Moeka’a . Cook Islands News . 6 February 2013 . 5 July 2020.
  3. Web site: New MP sworn in . Cook Islands News . 18 February 2013 . 19 July 2020.
  4. Web site: Cook Islanders speak in NZ House . Cook Islands News . 26 April 2013 . 5 July 2020.
  5. Web site: Demos take back Tamarua seat . Cook Islands News . 26 September 2014 . 5 July 2020.
  6. Web site: Party allocates ‘shadow’ portfolios . Cook Islands News . 18 November 2015 . 5 July 2020.
  7. Web site: MPs represent country in NZ . Cook Islands News . 23 November 2016 . 5 July 2020.
  8. Web site: Preliminary Results from Votes Counted 14-06-2018 . Cook Islands Ministry of Justice . 14 June 2018 . 18 June 2018.
  9. Web site: Power shift creates duplicate deputies . Cook Islands News . 17 July 2018 . 5 July 2020.
  10. Web site: Positively blooming in parliament . Cook Islands News . 13 December 2019 . 5 July 2020.
  11. Web site: Demos gunning for change . Melina Etches . Cook Islands News . 19 February 2020 . 3 July 2020.
  12. Web site: WARRANT DECLARING THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATES AND THE NUMBER OF VOTES RECEIVED BY EACH CANDIDATE . Cook Islands Gazette . 11 August 2022 . 13 August 2022.