Peeni Henare | |
|---|---|
 Henare in 2023 | |
| 16thMinister for ACC | |
| In office 1 February 2023 – 27 November 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Chris Hipkins |
| Preceded by | Carmel Sepuloni |
| Succeeded by | Matt Doocey |
| 32ndMinister of Forestry | |
| In office 12 April 2023 – 27 November 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Chris Hipkins |
| Preceded by | Megan Woods (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Todd McClay |
| 38thMinister of Tourism | |
| In office 1 February 2023 – 27 November 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Chris Hipkins |
| Preceded by | Stuart Nash |
| Succeeded by | Matt Doocey |
| 3rdMinister for Whānau Ora | |
| In office 26 October 2017 – 27 November 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Jacinda Ardern Chris Hipkins |
| Preceded by | Te Ururoa Flavell |
| Succeeded by | Tama Potaka |
| 41stMinister of Defence | |
| In office 6 November 2020 – 1 February 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Jacinda Ardern Chris Hipkins |
| Preceded by | Ron Mark |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Little |
| 14thMinister for Youth | |
| In office 26 October 2017 – 6 November 2020 | |
| Prime Minister | Jacinda Ardern |
| Preceded by | Nikki Kaye |
| Succeeded by | Priyanca Radhakrishnan |
| 26thMinister of Civil Defence | |
| In office 27 June 2019 – 6 November 2020 | |
| Prime Minister | Jacinda Ardern |
| Preceded by | Kris Faafoi |
| Succeeded by | Kiri Allan |
| 8thMinister for the Community and Voluntary Sector | |
| In office 26 October 2017 – 3 July 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Jacinda Ardern |
| Preceded by | Alfred Ngaro |
| Succeeded by | Poto Williams |
| Member of theNew Zealand Parliament forTāmaki Makaurau | |
| In office 20 September 2014 – 14 October 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Pita Sharples |
| Succeeded by | Takutai Tarsh Kemp |
| Majority | 927 |
| Personal details | |
| Relations |
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| Website | www |
Peeni Ereatara Gladwyn Henare ([ˈpɛːniˈhɛnaˌɾɛ]) is aNew Zealand Labour Party politician who has been a member of the New Zealand parliament since the2014 general election. Henare held theTāmaki Makaurau Māori electorate since 2014 before being defeated byTe Pāti Māori'sTakutai Tarsh Kemp in the2023 general election.
On 3 February 2026, Henare announced he would be quitting politics, having not put himself forward to be nominated as the Labour Party candidate for his former Tāmaki Makaurau seat and would also not seek a place on the Labour Party list in the2026 general election.[1]
Henare is a great-grandson ofTaurekareka Hēnare, who held theNorthern Maori seat between1914 and1938.[2] His grandfather wasJames Hēnare,[2] who had stood for theNational Party in five elections between1946 and1963.[3] His father was Erima Henare, who was head of theMāori Language Commission,[4] and his mother isTe Hemo Ata Henare, a master weaver.[5] Henare's second cousin,Tau Henare (also a direct descendant of Taurekareka Hēnare) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament from 1993 to 1999 and from 2005 to 2014.
Henare's uncle was the Māori activistDun Mihaka,[6] and he has relations to bothShane Jones andWinston Peters.[7]
| Years | Term | Electorate | List | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–2017 | 51st | Tāmaki Makaurau | none | Labour | |
| 2017–2020 | 52nd | Tāmaki Makaurau | none | Labour | |
| 2020–2023 | 53rd | Tāmaki Makaurau | 18 | Labour | |
| 2023–present | 54th | List | 14 | Labour | |
Peeni Henare won the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate ahead of Rangi McLean of theMāori Party in 2014.[8] In 2016, a member's bill submitted by Henare which aimed to ban the import of goods produced by slave labour was drawn from the ballot.[9] The bill had been first introduced byMaryan Street and defeated at its first reading in 2009.[10] It was again defeated at its first reading in 2016 due to opposition from theNational Party andAct New Zealand.[11]
During the2017 New Zealand general election, Henare was re-elected in the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate, winning 9,396 votes.[12] Henare was elected as a Minister outside Cabinet by the Labour Party caucus following Labour's formation of acoalition government withNew Zealand First and theGreens in October 2017.[13] He assumed the portfolio of Minister forWhānau Ora, which falls under the purview ofTe Puni Kōkiri (the Ministry for Māori Development).[14][15]
Following acabinet reshuffle in late June 2019, Henare was appointed asMinister of Civil Defence.[16][17]
During the2020 general election, Henare retained Tāmaki Makaurau, defeating the Māori Party candidate and co-leaderJohn Tamihere and Green co-leaderMarama Davidson. When the official results were released, Henare had a majority of 956,[18] but after the Māori Party requested a recount in Tāmaki Makaurau,[19] Henare's majority fell slightly to 927.[20] In November 2020, Henare was announced asMinister of Defence and Minister forWhānau Ora. He also assumed the health, housing and tourism associate porfolios with responsibility for Māori health and housing.[21][22]
In May 2022 he indicated to Labour Party PresidentClaire Szabó that he would possibly be unwilling to recontestTāmaki Makaurau at the2023 New Zealand general election, preferring instead to contest the election as a list-only candidate.[23]
In November 2022, Henare in his capacity as Defence Minister visited PolishMinister of National DefenceMariusz Błaszczak. He subsequently visited UkrainianDefence MinisterOleksii Reznikov and paid tribute to the fallen atThe Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine inKyiv. Henare's visit to Ukraine marked the first visit by a New Zealand cabinet minister since the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[24]
During a cabinet shuffle that occurred on 31 January 2023, Henare was succeeded as Defence Minister byAndrew Little. Henare became the Minister for theAccident Compensation Corporation (ACC),Minister of Tourism, and Minister for the Environment while retaining the Associate Minister of Health portfolio with responsibility for Māori.[25]
During the2023 New Zealand general election held on 14 October, Henare lost Tāmaki Makaurau by a narrow margin of 42 votes toTe Pāti Māori (Māori Party) candidateTakutai Tarsh Kemp.[26] He was re-elected to Parliament on the party list.[27] In early November 2023, Henare applied for a judicial recount. On 15 November, theElectoral Commission found that Kemp has won by a margin of 42 votes.[28]
Following the formation of theNational-led coalition government in late November 2023, Henare became spokesperson for defence, sport and recreation, and associate health in theShadow Cabinet of Chris Hipkins.[29]
On 5 December 2023, Henare was granted retention of the titleThe Honourable, in recognition of his term as a member of theExecutive Council.[30]
In February 2024, Henare attracted media attention after he used a metaphor involving a gun during aMāori language speech prior toWaitangi Day. Criticising the Government's policies towards Māori, he stated: "This is a fight that will not be fought just in Parliament. I lift my gun, and I let the shots do the talking." Henare subsequently clarified that he was referring to a "figurative gun" rather than an actual gun.ACT leaderDavid Seymour described Henare's metaphor of shooting people as inappropriate. Henare was defended by Labour Party leaderChris Hipkins, who argued that Henare was using a metaphor and not making an actual death threat. Hipkins also responded that Seymour was not in a position to "throw stones" given his 2023 remarks about blowing up theMinistry for Pacific Peoples.[31]
On 10 December 2024,House SpeakerGerry Brownlee referred Henare along withTe Pāti Māori (TPM) MPsHana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke,Rawiri Waititi andDebbie Ngarewa-Packer to the Privileges Committee for leading ahaka (ka mate) that interrupted vote proceedings during the first reading of theTreaty Principles Bill on 14 November 2024.[32] On 13 March 2025, Henare appeared before the Privileges Committee where he apologised for getting out of his seat but refused to apologise for participating in the haka.[33] On 26 March, the Committee found that Henare had acted in a "disorderly" way in joining the TPM-led haka but ruled that his actions did not amount to "contempt."[34]
Following acabinet reshuffle on 7 March 2025, Henare became part of Hipkins' new economic team, gaining the economic development and associate health portfolios. He retained the Māori-Crown RelationsTe Arawhiti and defence portfolios but lost the sports and recreation portfolio.[35]
In July 2025, Henare was confirmed as Labour's candidate forthat year's by-election in the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate, which had been called following the death ofTakutai Tarsh Kemp.[36] During a candidate debate withTe Pāti Māori candidateOriini Kaipara held on 20 August 2025, Henare voiced support for repealing the National-led coalition government'sGangs Act 2024's ban ongang patches. Henare's remarks contradicted Labour leader Hipkins' position that the party would not repeal the ban on gang patches. In response, Labour's deputy leaderCarmel Sepuloni clarified that Henare's remarks did not represent official party policy. In response, National Party MP andJustice MinisterPaul Goldsmith questioned whether Labour would commit to its promise not to repeal the gang patch ban.[37]
On 6 September, Henare lost the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election to Kaipara by a landslide.[38] Based on the preliminary count, Henare won 3,093 votes, coming second place to Kaipara's 6,031 votes.[39] During his concession speech, Henare described theNational-led coalition government as their main opposition.[40] On 3 February 2026, Henare announced he has not put himself forward to be nominated as the Labour Party candidate for his former Tāmaki Makaurau seat and would not seek a place on the Labour Party list in the2026 general election.[1]
Henare's partner is Skye Kimura, who served as the chief executive of the consultancy group Tātou until early 2023.[41][42]
In mid August 2023, theNational Party's public service spokespersonSimeon Brown called for thePublic Service Commission to investigate the awarding of $600,000 worth of government contracts to Tātou in 2021 and 2022, including $250,000 from theMinistry of Health. In 2018, Henare had disclosed Kimura's business interests to theCabinet Office and agreed not to be involved in any decisions regarding contracts with her agency. While the Health Ministry confirmed that Tātou had followed the rules and that Henare was involved, it acknowledged that the group had not declared a conflict of interest or instituted an internal management plan.[41] In mid September 2023, the Health Ministry commissioned an independent review of all contracts it had awarded to Tātou. Public Service Commissioner Peter Hughes sought a copy of the findings but declined the National Party's request for a broader review of all government contracts awarded to Tātou.[42] In February 2024,PwC released its review, which concluded that the Health Ministry had failed to raise any concerns about conflicts of interest around the seven contracts it had awarded to Tātou between 2021 and 2022. Following the report, the Ministry undertook action to educate its staff about dealing with conflicts of interests.[43]
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Data from Wikidata| New Zealand Parliament | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forTāmaki Makaurau 2014–2023 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister for Whānau Ora 2017–2023 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector 2017–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Youth 2017–2020 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Civil Defence 2019–2020 | Succeeded byas Minister for Emergency Management |
| Preceded by | Minister of Defence 2020–2023 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for ACC 2023 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Tourism 2023 | |
| Minister of Forestry 2023 | Succeeded by | |
