View source for Donna Awatere Huata

{{short description|New Zealand politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = 
|name        = Donna Awatere Huata
|honorific-suffix =
|image       = Donna Awatere Huata.jpg
|caption     = Awatere Huata speaking in 2019
|constituency_MP =  [[ACT New Zealand|ACT]] [[list MP|list]]
|parliament  =  New Zealand
|term_start  =  12 October 1996
|term_end    =  19 November 2004<ref>{{cite web |title=Roll of members of the New Zealand House of Representatives, 1854 onwards |url=https://www.parliament.nz/media/6305/roll-of-members-of-the-new-zealand-house-of-representatives-1854-onwards.pdf |website=New Zealand Parliament |access-date=29 October 2020 |archive-date=3 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903095934/https://www.parliament.nz/media/6305/roll-of-members-of-the-new-zealand-house-of-representatives-1854-onwards.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
|successor = [[Kenneth Wang (politician)|Kenneth Wang]]{{refn|group=n|Normally, list MPs do not have individual predecessors or successors, but Awatere Huata was expelled during a sitting parliament and therefore was succeeded by Wang.}}
|birth_date   = {{birth year and age|1949}}
|birth_place  = [[Rotorua]], New Zealand
|death_date   = 
|death_place  = 
|restingplace = 
|restingplacecoordinates = 
|birthname    = 
|nationality  = 
|party        = [[ACT New Zealand]] (former)
|otherparty   =  
|spouse       = Wi Huata
|partner      =  <!--For those with a domestic partner and not married-->
|relations    = [[Arapeta Awatere]] (father)
|children     = 
|residence    = 
|alma_mater   = 
|occupation   = 
|profession   = 
|religion     = 
|signature    = 
|website      = 
}}
'''Donna Lynn Awatere Huata''' (sometimes written Awatere-Huata, previously known as '''Donna Awatere'''; born 1949) is a former member of the [[New Zealand Parliament]] for the [[ACT New Zealand]] Party, activist for [[Māori people|Māori]] causes, and convicted [[fraud]]ster.<ref>[http://www.oag.govt.nz/2003/huata/ Inquiry into Public Funding of Organisations Associated with Donna Awatere Huata MP — Office of the Auditor-General New Zealand] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718182206/http://www.oag.govt.nz/2003/huata/ |date=18 July 2011 }}. oag.govt.nz. Retrieved on 27 October 2024.</ref><ref name="NZ_Herald_10348000">{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10348000 |title=Donna Awatere Huata jailed |date=30 September 2005 |agency=[[NZPA]] |newspaper=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=29 September 2011 |archive-date=5 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805120126/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10348000 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | first=Charles| last=Anderson| title=Convicted fraudster blocked from trust| url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6911367/convicted-fraudster-blocked-from-trust| publisher=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] | date=2012-05-13| accessdate=2024-10-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Cameron |first1=Saraid |title=The feminist who roared: Donna Awatere Huata on her legacy |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/partner/08-08-2018/the-feminist-who-roared-donna-awatere-huata-on-her-legacy |date=2018-08-08|access-date=27 October 2024|work=TheSpinoff.co.nz }}</ref>

==Early life==

Donna Awatere was born in [[Rotorua]] in 1949, and was educated in [[Auckland]]. Her primary area of study was education, particularly [[educational psychology]], but she has also undertaken study in [[opera]]tic singing and [[film production]].

Her father, Colonel [[Arapeta Awatere]] DSO MC, was a prominent member of the [[Māori Battalion]] who was later elected to the [[Auckland City Council]]. In 1969 he was convicted of the murder of his mistress's lover and sent to jail, where he eventually died.<ref>Awatere, Hinemoa Ruataupare, [http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=5A27 Awatere, Arapeta Marukitepua Pitapitanuiarangi 1910–1976] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427093035/https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5a27/awatere-arapeta-marukitepua-pitapitanuiarangi |date=27 April 2022 }}, ''Dictionary of New Zealand Biography'', updated 7 April 2006</ref>

==Activism==

From the 1970s Awatere became involved in the [[Māori protest movement]], including the group [[Ngā Tamatoa]]. She was a leading protester against the [[1981 Springbok Tour]], and in 1984 she published ''Maori Sovereignty'', which became a key text in the Māori protest movement. During this period she and fellow Māori activist [[Ripeka Evans]] went to Communist Cuba.<ref>Stuff NZ.20 Oct.2007.</ref>  She was also involved in [[feminism|feminist]] politics, and ''Maori Sovereignty'' was originally written for the feminist magazine ''[[Broadsheet (New Zealand magazine)|Broadsheet]]''. She was critical of white feminists who ignored issues of race, and expressed the opinion that the problems facing Māori were more important than those facing women and other marginalised groups. In ''Maori Sovereignty'' she is generally critical of the established left.

After the publication of ''Maori Sovereignty'', Awatere retired from protest and became a [[biculturalism]] consultant for various organisations, including the [[New Zealand Treasury]] and the [[New Zealand Police]]. She also imported a children's reading programme, which she later developed and promoted through the Pipi Foundation. During this period she married [[Wi Huata]] and changed her surname from Awatere to Awatere Huata.

==Member of Parliament==

===Member of Parliament===
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{{NZ parlbox|start={{NZ election link year|1999}}|end=2002|term=46th|party=ACT New Zealand|electorate=List|list=4}}
{{NZ parlbox|start={{NZ election link year|2002}}|end=2003|term=47th|party=ACT New Zealand|electorate=List|list=5}}
{{NZ parlbox allegiance|start=2003|end=2004|party=Independent politician}}
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Shortly before the {{NZ election link|1996}}, Awatere Huata joined the [[ACT New Zealand]] party. This surprised many commentators, as ACT was not generally associated with the sort of cause that Awatere Huata had previously supported. In a 2019 interview on [[Māori Television|Māori Television's]] current affairs programme [[Moana (singer)|Te Ao with Moana]], Awatere Huata claimed she joined ACT as she supported its educational policy of the funding following the child, as she believed this would make it easier to establish [[Kura Kaupapa]] and [[Kohanga Reo]]. She described herself as being at the time too "economically naïve to understand [ACT's agenda] was a neoliberal agenda," and said once discovering this she resolved to stay within parliament and "fight from within". In the interview she described going with ACT as being "one step too far".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiNbwO9XGrw |title=Moana Maniapoto interview with Donna Awatere Huata |last=Maniapoto |first=Moana |date=26 October 2019 |website=[[YouTube]] |access-date=15 August 2021 |archive-date=14 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814131214/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiNbwO9XGrw |url-status=live }}</ref>

Awatere Huata was ranked in fourth place on ACT's party list, and stood as a candidate in the Māori electorate of [[Te Puku O Te Whenua]], coming in 4th place. She was not successful in her electorate race, but entered [[New Zealand Parliament|Parliament]] as a [[party list proportional representation|list MP]]. In the {{NZ election link|1999}}, she polled fifth in {{NZ electorate link|Auckland Central}} but due to her fourth-place ranking on the party's list consequently remained in Parliament. In the {{NZ election link|2002}}, she came 4th in {{NZ electorate link|Napier}} and although she was lowered to fifth place on the list, nevertheless remained in parliament comfortably.

===Pipi Foundation Affair===

In 2003 Awatere Huata was expelled from the ACT party on allegations of fraud regarding the Pipi Foundation charity, which at the time was under investigation by the [[Serious Fraud Office (New Zealand)|Serious Fraud Office]].<ref>[http://www.oag.govt.nz/2003/huata/ Inquiry into Public Funding of Organisations Associated with Donna Awatere Huata MP — Office of the Auditor-General New Zealand] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718182206/http://www.oag.govt.nz/2003/huata/ |date=18 July 2011 }}. Oag.govt.nz. Retrieved on 26 November 2011.</ref> Subsequently, there were a series of legal battles around Awatere Huata's right to remain in parliament as an independent list MP. These culminated in one of the [[Supreme Court of New Zealand|Supreme Court]]'s first major decisions in 2004 and she was removed from Parliament,<ref>{{Cite court|litigants=Prebble v Huata|opinion=CIV 9/2004|court=Supreme Court of New Zealand|date=18 November 2004|url=https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/2004/civ-9-2004-appeal.pdf}}</ref> giving the [[ACT Party]] a new MP, [[Kenneth Wang (politician)|Kenneth Wang]] until the [[2005 New Zealand election]].

Awatere Huata was charged by the [[Serious Fraud Office (New Zealand)|Serious Fraud Office]] and later convicted of fraud after taking $80,000 from the Pipi Foundation, a Government funded charity, she had set up as an MP in 1999. The media reported that "Some of the stolen money was used to pay for Awatere Huata's stomach stapling operation and some was used to pay state-integrated school fees for the couple's children."<ref name="NZ_Herald_10348000">{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10348000 |title=Donna Awatere Huata jailed |date=30 September 2005 |agency=[[NZPA]] |newspaper=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=29 September 2011 |archive-date=5 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805120126/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10348000 |url-status=live }}</ref> On 30 September 2005, she was sentenced to 2 years 9 months in jail alongside her husband, Wi Huata, who received 2 years with the ability to apply for home detention. On 16 May 2006, she was released on home detention<ref>[http://www.life.com/image/57620766 Donna Awatere Huata Released From Prison On Home Detention – Photo]{{Dead link|date=April 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. LIFE (16 May 2006). Retrieved on 2011-11-26.</ref> and after her sentence was completed in  February 2009, she was able to set up a correspondence teaching centre "The Learning Post".<ref name="Stuff.co.nz_1402511">{{cite web |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/1402511 |title=Awatere Huata is back in education |author=Vickers, Lucy |date=25 February 2009 |work=[[Stuff.co.nz]] |access-date=29 September 2011 |archive-date=23 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023185702/http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/1402511 |url-status=live }}</ref> In October 2010 another school she and her husband ran  was forced to go into liquidation owing large sums of money. [[NZQA]] said that many of the courses were inadequately supported.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/provider-reports/7567.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=11 November 2012 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092342/http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/provider-reports/7567.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The school had only 15 pupils.<ref name="NZ_Herald_10679644">{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10679644 |title=Huata academy leaves creditors in lurch |author=Davison, Isaac |date=11 October 2010 |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=29 September 2011 |archive-date=21 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101021221031/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10679644 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In a 2019 interview with [[Moana (singer)|Moana Maniapoto]] Awatere Huata stated "I am proud of the fact that because of the issues that erupted around me that led to me being expelled from parliament, I actually helped bring down ACT. And that, to me, is a big achievement."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiNbwO9XGrw |title=Moana Maniapoto interview with Donna Awatere Huata |last=Maniapoto |first=Moana |date=26 October 2019 |website=[[YouTube]] |access-date=15 August 2021 |archive-date=14 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814131214/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiNbwO9XGrw |url-status=live }}</ref>

== After Parliament==
Awatere Huata worked briefly in several roles for [[New Zealand Māori Council]], including administrative support and representing the council at the [[United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues]]. This was followed by a role under [[Mark Solomon (Māori leader)|Mark Solomon]] at the [[Māori Carbon Foundation]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12126881|title=Donna Awatere Huata secures top job as Māori Climate Commissioner|first=Michael|last=Neilson|date=18 September 2018|work=[[The New Zealand Herald]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109142623/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12126881|archive-date=9 November 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

In mid-March 2022, Awatere Huata and her husband Wi Huata were ordered to vacate their home and farm on disputed land in [[Maraekakaho]] near [[Hastings, New Zealand|Hastings]]. Justice Christine Grice ruled in favour of the Te Hua Whenua Trust's trustees, who disputed the Huata's lease of the land for the past 35 years.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sharpe |first1=Marty |title=Former politician and husband removed from land they have occupied for 35 years |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300541119/former-politician-and-husband-removed-from-land-they-have-occupied-for-35-years |access-date=16 March 2022 |work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |date=15 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220315091947/https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300541119/former-politician-and-husband-removed-from-land-they-have-occupied-for-35-years |archive-date=15 March 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> This decision reversed a Maori Land Court ruling and was appealed. The Huatas withdrew their appeal in August 2022 and vacated the land as ordered on 2 February 2024.<ref>{{cite news | first=Marty| last=Sharpe| title=Huata duo finally leave land they've occupied against owners' will| url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350168580/huata-duo-finally-leave-land-theyve-occupied-against-owners-will| publisher=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] | date=2024-02-07| accessdate=2024-02-06}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=n}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Published works==
**{{citation |title = Closing the gaps: policy papers |place = Wellington, [N.Z.] |publisher = ACT New Zealand Parliamentary Office |year = 2001 |isbn = 0-9582178-1-5 |author = ACT Members of Parliament.}}
*''Awatere Huata's contribution is a paper entitled:'' "Common sense in education."
**{{citation |title = '''NZLIA Wanganui, October 1997''' [sound recording] [New Zealand Library and Information Association. Conference (1997 : Wanganui, N.Z.)] |place = Wellington, [N.Z.] |publisher = NZLIA |year = 1997}}
*''Awatere Huata's contribution is a paper entitled:'' "Maori client needs of the future."
**{{citation |title = Old values, new ideas |place = Wellington, [N.Z.] |publisher = ACT New Zealand Parliamentary Office |year = 2001 |isbn = 0-477-01964-1 |author = from ACT Members of Parliament.}}
*''Awatere Huata's contribution is a paper entitled:'' "Kiwi myth or New Zealand dream?"
**{{citation |title = Report of the Controller and Auditor-General, Tumuaki o te Mana Arotake, on inquiry into public funding of organisations associated with Donna Awatere Huata MP |place = Wellington, [N.Z.] |publisher = Controller and Auditor-General |year = 2003 |isbn = 0-478-18111-6 }}
**{{citation |title = '''Waka Huia. Kokohinau''' [videorecording]. '''Marae [9 June 1996]''' |place = Auckland, [N.Z.] |publisher = University of Auckland |year = 2004}}
*''As part of this Television New Zealand Maori programme (made at the Kokohinau Marae near [[Te Teko]]), Awatere Huata was interviewed about her book, '''My journey''' '' (for details of the book, see below)
**{{citation |title = '''Youth and music''' [sound recording] '''[Kiwi SLC-72]''' |place = Wellington, [N.Z.] |publisher = Kiwi |year = 1969}}
*''This is another iteration of the '''Ashley Heenan''' recording listed below.''
**{{citation |first = Donna |last = Awatere |title = The Otara four minute reading programme |place = Pakuranga, [N.Z.] |publisher = Psychological Service, Dept. of Education |year = c. 1980}}
**{{citation |first = Donna |last = Awatere |title = '''Cultural imperialsm ''[i.e. imperialism]'' and the Maori: the role of the public servant''' |place = n.p. |publisher = n.p. |year = 1982}}
**{{citation |first = Donna |last = Awatere |title = Maori sovereignty |place = Auckland, [N.Z.] |publisher = Broadsheet |year = 1984 |isbn = 0-9597736-0-6}}
*''The first three parts of this book were originally published in the New Zealand [[feminism|feminist]] magazine, '''Broadsheet.''' ''
**{{citation |first1 = Donna |last1 = Awatere |first2 = Lois |last2 = Hadfield |title = The Otara four minute reading programme: manual  |place = Otara, [N.Z.] |publisher = n.p. |year = 1979}}
**{{citation |first1 = Donna |last1 = Awatere |first2 = Maria |last2 = Mareroa |title = Te koputu taonga: Otara: an emergent model of community development  |place = Wellington, [N.Z.] |publisher = n.p. |year = c. 1980}}
*''"This paper was prepared for the Public Service in a Multicultural Society conference, State Services Commission, March 1982" (p.4)''.
**{{citation |first = Donna|last = Awatere |title = Alcohol and the Maori people |place = Auckland, [N.Z.] |publisher = Alcohol Research Unit, School of Medicine, University of Auckland |year = 1984|display-authors=etal}}
**{{citation |first = Donna (prod.) |last = Awatere Huata |title = '''Haka''' [video recording] |place = Wellington, [N.Z.] |publisher = Film Commission, (1988): Dept. of Education, Visual Production Unit [distributor] |year = 1989}}
**{{citation |first = Donna |last = Awatere Huata |title = My journey |place = Auckland, [N.Z.] |publisher = Seaview Press |year = 1996}}
**{{citation |first = Donna |last = Awatere Huata |title = The reading race: how every child can learn to read |place = Wellington, [N.Z.] |publisher = Huia |year = 2002 |isbn = 1-877283-67-3}}
**{{citation |editor-first = Bob |editor-last = Brockie |title = '''The Penguin eyewitness history of New Zealand: dramatic first-hand accounts from New Zealand's history''' |place = Auckland, [N.Z.] |publisher = Penguin |year = 2002 |isbn = 0-14-301825-6}}
*''Awatere's contribution is a paper entitled'': "Maori Land March, 1975."
**{{citation |first1 = Annie |last1 = Goldson |first2 = Dawn (dir.) |last2 = Hutchesson |title = '''Sheilas''' [videorecording]: '''28 years on '''  |place = Auckland, [N.Z.] |publisher = Occasional Productions |year = 2004 |isbn = 0-908896-30-1}}
* ''Awatere Huata (and five other women) was initially interviewed in 1976 for a documentary series: this production is an update on her (and their) life and times.''
**{{citation |first = Ashley |last = Heenan |title = '''Orchestral and vocal music / Selections''' [sound recording] '''[Kiwi Pacific SLD-102]''' |place = Wellington, [N.Z.] |publisher = Kiwi Pacific |year = 1995}}
*''Awatere's contribution is as one of the vocal soloists on the sixth track''.
**{{citation |first1 = Sue |last1 = Kedgley |editor1-first = Mary |editor1-last = Varnham |title = Heading nowhere in a navy blue suit: and other tales from the feminist revolution  |place = Wellington, [N.Z.] |publisher = Daphne Brasell Associates Press |year = 1993 |isbn = 0-908896-30-1}}
*''Awatere Huata's contribution is a paper entitled:'' "Walking on eggs." This volume has an introduction by [[Dale Spender]].
**{{citation |editor-first = Hineani |editor-last = Melbourne |title = Maori sovereignty: the Maori perspective |place = Auckland, [N.Z.] |publisher = Hodder Moa Beckett |year = 1995 |isbn = 1-86958-208-X}}

{{ACT New Zealand}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Awatere Huata, Donna}}
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:ACT New Zealand MPs]]
[[Category:New Zealand Māori feminists]]
[[Category:New Zealand feminists]]
[[Category:People from Rotorua]]
[[Category:New Zealand prisoners and detainees]]
[[Category:Māori MPs]]
[[Category:New Zealand Māori activists]]
[[Category:New Zealand list MPs]]
[[Category:New Zealand politicians convicted of fraud]]
[[Category:Māori politicians]]
[[Category:Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Expelled legislators]]
[[Category:New Zealand Māori women]]
[[Category:21st-century New Zealand politicians]]
[[Category:21st-century New Zealand women politicians]]
[[Category:Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Ngāti Hine people]]
[[Category:People educated at St Mary's College, Auckland]]