Matiu Rata | |
|---|---|
 Rata in 1968 | |
| 32nd Minister of Māori Affairs | |
| In office 8 December 1972 – 12 December 1975 | |
| Prime Minister | Norman Kirk Bill Rowling |
| Preceded by | Duncan MacIntyre |
| Succeeded by | Duncan MacIntyre |
| 36thMinister of Lands | |
| In office 8 December 1972 – 12 December 1975 | |
| Prime Minister | Norman Kirk Bill Rowling |
| Preceded by | Duncan MacIntyre |
| Succeeded by | Venn Young |
| Member of theNew Zealand Parliament forNorthern Maori | |
| In office 16 March 1963 – 29 April 1980 | |
| Preceded by | Tapihana Paraire Paikea |
| Succeeded by | Bruce Gregory |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1934-03-26)26 March 1934 Te Hāpua, New Zealand |
| Died | 25 July 1997(1997-07-25) (aged 63) |
| Political party | Labour (1951–80) Mana Motuhake (1980–97) |
| Other political affiliations | Alliance |
Matiu Waitai Rata (26 March 1934 – 25 July 1997) was aMāori politician who was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for theLabour Party from 1963 to 1980, and a cabinet minister from 1972 to 1975. In 1979 he resigned from the Labour Party and formed theMana Motuhake Party.
As the first Māori Minister of Lands, and the first Māori Minister of Māori Affairs, writes Tiopira McDowell, in the space of three years from 1972, "Rata reformed Māori land policies, elevated the status of the Treaty of Waitangi and Waitangi Day, increased government spending on housing and education and initiated a small but significant shift towards the protection and recognition of Māori language and culture. The Waitangi Tribunal he was instrumental in establishing would be his most lasting and significant contribution to the nation's political history."[1]
Rata was born atTe Hāpua to Te Āta (Arthur) Waitai Rata and Mereana Harowe.[2] His tribal connections were withNgāti Kurī,Te Aupōuri andNgāti Whātua. He moved to Te Wharau, nearDargaville, with his family in 1942. His father died in a logging accident when he was 10, in December 1944; his mother Mereana moved to Freemans Bay in Auckland with her four children to find work as a cleaner. The entire family lived in one room in a rambling house, home to eleven other families, all of whom shared the outhouse.[1]
Rata joined the Labour Party in his teens, in 1951 during the waterfront dispute.
"'When you lived in Nelson Street,' he said, 'where 11 families lived in one house, well, there has got to be something better than that.'" wrotePaula Morris, quoting Rata. "[His] childhood experiences formed his sense of social injustice, and therefore his politics."[1]
By late 1947, a polio epidemic was closing Auckland schools. It is believed that this outbreak ended Rata’s formal schooling.[1]
Rata became a merchant seaman in 1950, at the age of sixteen. Four years later he left marine service, and married Nellie Ererua, possibly around 1957, the year his mother died. During these years he worked as a farm labourer, truck driver and spray painter. In 1960 he started work as a spray painter at the Ōtāhuhu Railway Workshops, where he became a union organiser, rising to join the Ōtāhuhu executive of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. He became chairperson of his local Labour Party branch, and Auckland Labour area organiser for Tapihana Paikea, the Northern Māori member of parliament. Paikea died in January 1963, and Rata won the resulting by-election, becoming a Member of Parliament in March 1963 at the age of 28.[2]
Rata was a committed member of the Rātana Church. He had three children – two sons and a daughter.
| Years | Term | Electorate | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | 33rd | Northern Maori | Labour | ||
| 1963–1966 | 34th | Northern Maori | Labour | ||
| 1966–1969 | 35th | Northern Maori | Labour | ||
| 1969–1972 | 36th | Northern Maori | Labour | ||
| 1972–1975 | 37th | Northern Maori | Labour | ||
| 1975–1978 | 38th | Northern Maori | Labour | ||
| 1978–1979 | 39th | Northern Maori | Labour | ||
| 1979–1980 | Changed allegiance to: | Independent | |||
Rata was a Member of Parliament forNorthern Maori from a1963 by-election to 1980.
He was theMinister of Lands andMinister of Māori Affairs in theThird Labour Government of New Zealand between 1972 and 1975. He was the architect of both the Māori Affairs Amendment Act of 1974, which gave Māori greater control over their land, and the 1975 creation of theWaitangi Tribunal.[3]
In 1979 he resigned from theLabour Party.[3] In 1980 he resigned from Parliament and formed theMana Motuhake Party to contest the resulting1980 by-election. He was defeated byBruce Gregory, coming second with 991 fewer votes than Gregory.
Following his exit from Parliament Matiu Rata was the leader of theMuriwhenua in presenting their Treaty of Waitangi claims to the Waitangi Tribunal, resulting in a settlement of Māori fishing claims for the tribes of the Far North.[3]
He contested Northern Maori at every election from 1981 to 1990 for Mana Motuhake and in 1993 for theAlliance. In 1994 he retired from the Mana Motuhake leadership in favour of Alliance MPSandra Lee.[4]
Rata died on 25 July 1997 from injuries received eight days earlier when his car was hit head on by a vehicle driven by a foreign tourist who reportedly fell asleep at the wheel.[5]
Rata's widow, Nellie Rata, stood forACT inTe Tai Tokerau at the1999 general election, having been unsuccessful in securing theAlliance nomination.[6] She received 280 votes, to finish in seventh place in the 13-candidate race.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Māori Affairs 1972–1975 | Succeeded by Duncan MacIntyre |
| Minister of Lands 1972–1975 | Succeeded by | |
| New Zealand Parliament | ||
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Northern Maori 1963–1980 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
