Donna Awatere Huata

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Donna Lynn Awatere Huata (sometimes written Awatere-Huata, previously known as Donna Awatere) is a former member of the New Zealand Parliament, and former activist for Māori causes. In 2004 she was expelled from Parliament and subsequently convicted of fraud.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Activism 3 Member of Parliament 4 Conviction for fraud 5 References 6 Published works

[edit] Early life

Donna Awatere was born in the city of 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 operatic singing and film production.

Her father, Arapeta Awatere was a prominent member of the Māori Battalion, but also a violent husband and authoritarian father. In 1969 he was convicted of the murder of his mistress's lover and sent to jail, where he eventually died.^[1]

[edit] Activism

From the 1970s Awatere became involved in the Māori protest movement, including the group Nga 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. She was also involved in feminist politics, and Maori Sovereignty was originally written for the feminist 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. At this time she was broadly Marxist, although she later admitted that she had trouble understanding Marxist theory, and attributed this to Marxist theory being fundamentally flawed. 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 developed a children's reading programme, which she later promoted through the Pipi Foundation. During this period she married Wi Huata and changed her surname from Awatere to Awatere Huata.

[edit] Member of Parliament

Parl.	Electorate	List Pos.	Party
45th	List	4	ACT
46th	List	4	ACT
47th	List	5	ACT

Shortly before the 1996 election, 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. She 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. She was not successful in her electorate race, but entered Parliament as a list MP. In the 1999 elections, she retained her fourth place ranking on the party's list, and consequently remained in Parliament. In the 2002 elections, she was lowered to fifth place on the list, but nevertheless remained in parliament comfortably.

[edit] Conviction for fraud

In late 2002, the Dominion Post newspaper reported evidence that Awatere Huata had appropriated public money for her own use. The money in question belonged to the Pipi Foundation. Some of this money was alleged to have been spent by Awatere Huata on a secret gastric bypass operation which resulted in a dramatic weight loss that was much commented upon in women's magazines. She had claimed this weight loss was purely the result of willpower and diet.

Awatere Huata strongly denied the accusations, but further investigation (much of it conducted by the Dominion Post) provided sufficient grounds for an official enquiry by the Serious Fraud Office. On 11 February, the ACT party expelled her from caucus, although not from the party itself.

The final report on Awatere Huata's dealings was not completed until November that year, however. Investigators claimed that the delay was caused by total lack of cooperation from Awatere Huata, which Awatere Huata denies. The report was highly critical of her, and she was charged (along with her husband) with multiple counts of fraud. She was also charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.

During this time, Awatere Huata's membership of the ACT party had lapsed, something which Awatere Huata claims was accidental. When she reapplied for membership, however, ACT indicated that it would not accept her. ACT then informed the Speaker that Awatere Huata should no longer be considered a member of ACT. The Speaker concurred, and declared Awatere Huata an independent.

ACT shortly afterwards attempted to invoke the Electoral Integrity Act, which was designed to limit the ability of MPs to change parties. Under this law, MPs who change their allegiance in a way that "distorts the proportionality" of Parliament must vacate their seat. ACT contended that because Awatere Huata is no longer a member of the party, the party had less strength in Parliament than its last election result awarded it, thereby undermining proportional representation. Awatere Huata, however, claimed that even if she was not a member of ACT, she still voted according to ACT policies, ensuring that the public still got the policies that they voted for. In a long battle, Awatere Huata sought a court injunction against the Electoral Integrity Act being invoked. The High Court initially refused an injunction, but was overruled by the Court of Appeal. Finally, on 18 November, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the original decision, allowing the law to be invoked. The following day, the Speaker declared Awatere-Huata's seat to be vacant. She was replaced in Parliament by Kenneth Wang, the next person on ACT's party list.

On 23 August 2005, Awatere Huata and her husband were convicted on multiple charges of fraud. On 30 September 2005, Awatere Huata was sentenced to 2 years and nine months in prison and husband Wi was given 2 years with a possibility of home detention. The court room was packed with over one hundred Māori leaders and activists, plus the Huata family. As the sentencing was read by Judge Roderick Joyce, the crowd in the court yelled and jeered so much the judge stopped sentencing. As the crowd, 20 of whom drove up from Hastings, yelled and held up "racism" signs. Donna and Wi merely stood still with little emotion as they stared into each others eyes.

Wi Huata's transgendered brother Hira caused such an uproar between yelling "white justice" to the judge and doing an impromptu haka with sister Huia that he had to be stopped in order for proceedings to continue. Mrs Awatere Huata's lawyer Guyon Foley said he was not sure whether his client would appeal but Wi Huata's lawyer said he was considering an appeal. The large crowd outside the District court created a commotion as Mrs Huata was taken in a police guard, and police officers stood by as screaming and yelling continued at reporters from the activists and Huata family.

[edit] References

1. ^ Awatere, Hinemoa Ruataupare, 'Awatere, Arapeta Marukitepua Pitapitanuiarangi 1910 - 1976', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 7 April 2006: http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=5A27

[edit] Published works

• Closing the gaps: policy papers, Wellington, [N.Z.]: ACT New Zealand Parliamentary Office, 2001, ISBN 0-958-21781-5 

• Awatere Huata's contribution is a paper entitled: "Common sense in education."

• NZLIA Wanganui, October 1997 [sound recording] [New Zealand Library and Information Association. Conference (1997 : Wanganui, N.Z.)], Wellington, [N.Z.]: NZLIA, 1997 

• Awatere Huata's contribution is a paper entitled: "Maori client needs of the future."

• Old values, new ideas, Wellington, [N.Z.]: ACT New Zealand Parliamentary Office, 2001, ISBN 0-477-01964-1 

• Awatere Huata's contribution is a paper entitled: "Kiwi myth or New Zealand dream?"

• 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, Wellington, [N.Z.]: Controller and Auditor-General, 2003, ISBN 0-478-18111-6 

• Waka Huia. Kokohinau [videorecording]. Marae [9 June 1996], Auckland, [N.Z.]: University of Auckland, 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)

• Youth and music [sound recording] [Kiwi SLC-72], Wellington, [N.Z.]: Kiwi, 1969 

• This is another iteration of the Ashley Heenan recording listed below.

• Awatere, Donna (c.1980), The Otara four minute reading programme, Pakuranga, [N.Z.]: Psychological Service, Dept. of Education 

• Awatere, Donna (1982), Cultural imperialsm [i.e. imperialism] and the Maori: the role of the public servant, n.p.: n.p. 

• Awatere, Donna (1984), Maori sovereignty, Auckland, [N.Z.]: Broadsheet, ISBN 0-959-77360-6 

• The first three parts of this book were originally published in the New Zealand feminist magazine, Broadsheet.

• Awatere, Donna & Hadfield, Lois (1979), The Otara four minute reading programme: manual, Otara, [N.Z.]: n.p. 

• Awatere, Donna & Mareroa, Maria (198?), Te koputu taonga: Otara: an emergent model of community development, Wellington, [N.Z.]: n.p. 

• "This paper was prepared for the Public Service in a Multicultural Society conference, State Services Commission, March 1982" (p.4).

• Awatere, Donna et al. (1984), Alcohol and the Maori people, Auckland, [N.Z.]: Alcohol Research Unit, School of Medicine, University of Auckland 

• Awatere Huata, Donna (prod.) (1989), Haka [video recording], Wellington, [N.Z.]: Film Commission, (1988): Dept. of Education, Visual Production Unit [distributor] 

• Awatere Huata, Donna (1996), My journey, Auckland, [N.Z.]: Seaview Press 

• Awatere Huata, Donna (2002), The reading race: how every child can learn to read, Wellington, [N.Z.]: Huia, ISBN 1-877-28367-3 

• Brockie, Bob (ed.) (2002), The Penguin eyewitness history of New Zealand: dramatic first-hand accounts from New Zealand's history, Auckland, [N.Z.]: Penguin, ISBN 0-143-01825-6 

• Awatere's contribution is a paper entitled: "Maori Land March, 1975."

• Goldson, Annie & Hutchesson, Dawn (dir.) (2004), Sheilas [videorecording]: 28 years on , Auckland, [N.Z.]: Occasional Productions, ISBN 0-908-89630-1 

• 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.

• Heenan, Ashley (1995), Orchestral and vocal music / Selections [sound recording] [Kiwi Pacific SLD-102], Wellington, [N.Z.]: Kiwi Pacific 

• Awatere's contribution is as one of the vocal soloists on the sixth track.

• Kedgley, Sue & Varnham, Mary (ed.) (1993), Heading nowhere in a navy blue suit: and other tales from the feminist revolution, Wellington, [N.Z.]: Daphne Brasell Associates Press, ISBN 0-908-89630-1 

• Awatere Huata's contribution is a paper entitled: "Walking on eggs." This volume has an introduction by Dale Spender.

• Melbourne, Hineani (ed.) (1995), Maori sovereignty: the Maori perspective, Auckland, [N.Z.]: Hodder Moa Beckett, ISBN 1-869-58208-X