1. Elizabeth Kerekere was elected a member of parliament for the Green Party in 2020, but resigned from the Greens on 5 May 2023, following allegations of bullying within the party.
22 Facts About Elizabeth Kerekere
1. 2.
Elizabeth Kerekere identifies as and produced the first major research on identity with her doctoral thesis in 2017.
3.
Elizabeth Kerekere is an artist and graduated from Eastern Institute of Technology with a bachelor in Maori visual arts.
4.
Elizabeth Kerekere's father, Karauria Tarao "Bison" Kerekere, was an artist and master carver.
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Elizabeth Kerekere was Maori, and of the Te Whanau a Kai, Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki, Rongowhakaata, Ngai Tamanuhiri and Ngati Oneone iwi.
6.
Elizabeth Kerekere is a lesbian, and is married to Alofa Aiono, whom she met in 1992.
7.
The couple held their civil union in Te Papa's marae, Te Marae Rongomaraeroa, which Elizabeth Kerekere advised on the design of in the late 1980s.
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Elizabeth Kerekere was 12 years old when she began babysitting the children of Maori women who held consciousness-raising meetings at their homes, and by age 15 was a junior member of the Maori Women's Welfare League.
9.
Between 1998 and 2002, Elizabeth Kerekere ran a weekly lotto fundraiser to make sure that Maori, Pacific, and low income lesbians would be represented on the team.
10.
Elizabeth Kerekere's desire for Maori representation in the Gay Games was a motivation behind establishing the Tiwhanawhana Trust, which she did in 2001 with support from Maori women's performing trust Ti Kouka.
11.
Long active in queer youth work, in 2007 Elizabeth Kerekere was involved in the KAHA Queer Youth Hui 2007, for which she created her first takatapui youth group guidelines.
12.
Elizabeth Kerekere stood in the Ikaroa-Rawhiti electorate for the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand in the 2017 New Zealand general election.
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Elizabeth Kerekere placed third of three candidates with 1,924 votes.
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Elizabeth Kerekere's list placing of 19th was too low for her to enter parliament as a list MP.
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Elizabeth Kerekere contested Ikaroa-Rawhiti for the Green Party again in 2020.
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Elizabeth Kerekere is a member of the health select committee and the Pae Ora legislation committee.
17.
On 15 March 2022, Elizabeth Kerekere resigned from her position as the Green Party spokesperson for Health and acting spokesperson for COVID-19 Response after she broke COVID-19 isolation rules by flying from Gisborne to Wellington despite being a household contact for COVID-19.
18.
Elizabeth Kerekere was temporarily removed from her position on the Health Select Committee.
19.
Elizabeth Kerekere apologised for her actions and stated that she would cooperate with investigators.
20.
On 5 May 2023 Elizabeth Kerekere left the Green Party to sit as an independent and announced she would not stand at the 2023 election.
21.
Elizabeth Kerekere announced her decision during a Zoom call with Green members that night.
22.
On 16 August 2023, Elizabeth Kerekere gave her valedictory speech in Parliament.