Tetangi Matapo

Tetangi Matapo
Tetangi Matapo in 2016
Member of the Cook Islands Parliament for Tamarua
Incumbent
Assumed office 29 January 2013
Preceded by	Pukeiti Pukeiti
Personal details
Born	3 October 1965
Political 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]

References

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