PM thanks Georgina te Heuheu for her service

Prime Minister John Key today thanked long-serving National MP and Minister Georgina te Heuheu for her public service after news of her retirement at the election.

“Georgina has been a valued member of this Government, where she has held the portfolios of Courts, Pacific Island Affairs, Disarmament and Arms Control, and Associate Maori Affairs,” says Mr Key.

“She was also a Minister in 1998 and 1999, after entering Parliament in 1996.

“I want to thank Georgina for the contribution she has made in her career in national politics over the last 15 years, and also for her public service in a myriad of other roles.

“In particular I want to record my appreciation for the role Mrs te Heuheu has played over the years in helping to grow the relationship between iwi and the National Party,” says Mr Key.

Mrs te Heuheu was the first Maori woman to gain a law degree and be admitted to the High Court as barrister and solicitor.

She became the first Maori woman to gain election as an MP for the National Party; the first Maori woman to chair the Maori Affairs Select Committee, and only the second Maori woman to be appointed to Cabinet. Mrs te Heuheu was awarded a QSO for public service in 1993.

Mr Key says she will continue in her ministerial portfolios until the election.