Political Legacy
Just six days after the general election, Rino Tirikatene is still glowing after returning Te Tai Tonga to Labour. The big man with a bubbling, enthusiastic personality still has a ‘wow-I’m-actually-here-now’ look about him.
“I’m really rapt, it’s always good to come out on top. There was a lot of drama in the last week with the polls. Apparently it [my win] shocked a lot of people, but I wasn’t shocked, I knew what we’d done.”
It has been a week of inductions and getting to know the ropes – the beginning of what will be a long and often fraught journey for new members. It’s unlikely they will ever have so much time on their hands again during their parliamentary careers.
Family dynasties are very unusual in the history of the New Zealand parliament. The Tirikatene whānau legacy of long political service is the most notable.
Rino, aged 39, is stepping into giant boots previously occupied by his grandfather, Sir Eruera Tirikatene and aunt, Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan, who between them, occupied the old Southern Māori seat for 63 years.
While those boots will not take him quite as far geographically as his tīpuna (the old Southern Māori electorate included all of Aotearoa south of about Wairoa), he will still have to represent his people over a far bigger area than any other MP. Te Tai Tonga electorate includes the whole of Te Waipounamu and most of the Wellington area.
Curiously, it is not his first attempt at winning an electoral seat.
That came about in the first MMP election in 1996 when his father Te Rino Tirikatene was standing for Labour in the new Māori seat of Te Puku o Whenua in the central North Island (largely replaced in 1999 by Ikaroa-Rawhiti).
Sadly Te Rino died during the campaign aged 55, and Rino was called to replace his father.
“I was asked by Tūwharetoa to stand. Their kaumātua came and saw my mum and approached the family and said ‘we would like your son to stand’.
“I was 23, just starting my first legal job and we’d just lost our dad. No pressure,” he laughs ironically.
“I had a go and for me it was like finishing the job off. So we weren’t successful in that election, obviously. I made the decision after that, that I just wanted to focus on my career and make a name for myself out of politics.”
That election was disastrous for Labour in the Māori seats. It lost all five to New Zealand First’s short-lived “tight five.” Included in that rout was Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan’s loss of Southern Māori after 29 years in the seat.
Asked to name his strongest political influence, Rino goes no further than his father. “He was dynamic, very charismatic, a great leader. He’d be my foremost influence.”
Te Rino Tirikatene stood for selection as a Labour candidate numerous times but never got to be an MP. “Often he stood in true-blue rural general seats where he flew the flag and brought the majority right down. So he did the hard yards.
“When he stood for a Māori seat in 1996 we thought ‘oh good on you, it’s your time’, but unfortunately he passed away.”
On his father’s side, Rino is Ngāi Tahu descended from the Tirikatene (paternal line) and Solomon (maternal) whānau with a strong Ratana-Labour whakapapa, and on the side of his mother Keta, Ngāti Hine from Tai Tokerau. She also has a strong Labour background.
Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana named Rino’s father Te Rino, meaning steel.
Te Rino started the Ratana band in Wellington and Rino was the lead player on cornet at major hui around the country and overseas.
“So I’ve marched on politicians from David Lange to Winston Peters. It will be great to be marched on myself (at the annual birthday celebration of Ratana on January 25).”
Rino goes to church, but not Ratana. He is part of the Morehu grouping, those remnant followers of Ratana who include Māori from all denominations and tribal affiliations.
He is separated and has three children: Grace 11, Anna 7 and Te Rino 6.
Outside of work and politics he says his attention is on his children. “That’s my number one focus these days. I have three lovely children.”
Rino was born in Rangiora, but spent most of his life in Wellington, apart from short times in Christchurch for school and work.
After gaining a degree from Victoria University he worked in commercial law. “I worked for years in a big corporate firm, but wanted a change. I wanted to mix more with people rather than be a little cog in a big legal machine.”
He successfully went into trade promotional work with Māori exporters for a number of years, dealing with a range of very small to large Māori businesses.
It was suggested he apply for a fisheries job with Ngāi Tahu, which involved developing commercial relationships with North Island iwi, who would transact their fisheries business through Ngāi Tahu.
He got the job. “It was great, I think over 60 per cent of iwi transacted their annual catch entitlements through Ngāi Tahu.”
However the industry changed and Ngāi Tahu went back to its core business in the south.
He was then CEO of the Federation of Māori Authorities for a year, and most recently has been involved in international work, making connections and organising development work between Māori asset owners and interests in the Pacific, particularly Papua New Guinea and Bougainville.
Was there pressure on him to continue the whānau tradition of producing Labour politicians?
“I didn’t actively feel a pressure. I realistically didn’t expect my path to go this way. Your whakapapa is your whakapapa and you can’t change that and I’m just honoured to be in the position I am now.”
Why the Labour Party?
“I think everything I’ve done career-wise has been to try and help people. Now it’s just gone to another level.
“People often say ‘you’ve worked in the business area wouldn’t you be more National?’. Labour is not anti-business at all. We’re very pro-business and growing the economy, but we just want to make sure growing the economy benefits everybody.
“I’ve got a strong sense of social justice. From a young age I’ve just really wanted to help people.”
He hopes to set up a mobile office that goes around the widespread communities of the electorate, “rather than have an office in a far away main town and expect people to come to me. I want to talk to Parliamentary Services about what we can do.”
For now he just wants to put his head down and learn the ropes, relishing the opportunity to cover any portfolio the leadership throws at him.
“I think it’s good for me to step outside my comfort zone. I don’t care what area I’m given because I know there’s a Māori dimension to everything that goes on.”
Rino says his job is to serve all Māori in Te Tai Tonga. “I’ve got the utmost respect for all manawhenua groups, whether they’re from Wellington, the Chatham Islands, Ngāi Tahu or top of the South. But there are also many Māori who are maata waka, people who have been there for generations.
“I’m just a servant of the people. Now the work begins. It’s a very big electorate with a lot of communities and different groups.”
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March 3rd, 2012 at 12:54 am
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February 3rd, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Kapai Rino
I remember your greatgranfather and his booming voice and the strength carried on by your Auntie Whetu.
We in my whanau are as you would expect have great hope for you so all I can say is do your best and make things better when you leave than when you began. For that we wish you all the best for your time in that place of influence. Kiaora.