Nanaia Mahuta

In 2004, she joined Tariana Turia, another Labour MP, in voting against the first reading of her party's legislation on the controversial foreshore and seabed issue. She did not, however, join Turia when she quit Labour to found the Māori Party. In the bill's second reading, she again voted against her party, but in the third reading, she changed her position and supported it, saying that it was the politically pragmatic thing to do.[15] In her third reading speech, Mahuta stated that she would withdraw from the Labour Party list at the next election to seek a renewed mandate from her electorate.

In the 2005 general election Mahuta held her electorate seat of Tainui. Subsequently, Mahuta as part of the Labour-Progressive coalition government, was Minister of Customs, Youth Development, Local Government and Associate Environment. Mahuta lost her portfolios when Labour was defeated in the 2008 general election.

Following the defeat of the Labour government in the 2008 election, and Labour's successive losses in 2011 and 2014, Mahuta held various appointments as Labour Party spokesperson for Māori Affairs, Education, Energy and Conservation. She was also deputy chairperson of the Māori Affairs select committee in the 51st Parliament.[16]

In 2009 Mahuta's Resource Management (Enhancement of Iwi Management Plans) Amendment Bill, which proposed giving more weight to Māori in resource-management decisions, was drawn from the members' ballot.[17] The bill was defeated at its first reading in August.[17]

Mahuta stood for the Labour Party leadership in 2014. She was unsuccessful, and Andrew Little became the leader of the Labour Party.[18] She considered retiring from politics at the 2017 general election after Maori King Tūheitia Paki changed his allegiance to the Māori Party. However, Mahuta eventually decided to stay on.[19] She was not placed on the Labour Party list at that election in line with Labour's decision for its incumbent Māori electorate MPs to contest the electorate vote only.[20]

Mahuta served as a cabinet minister in the Sixth Labour Government with the portfolios for Local Government and Maori Development. She also served as associate ministers for the trade and export growth, the environment and housing portfolios.[21]

In September 2019, Mahuta delivered a tearful and emotional speech as Parliament officially apologised for a police raid in 1916 on Māori leader Rua Kenana's Iharaira faith's compound in Maungapohatu in the North Island's Bay of Plenty region.[22]

During the 2020 general election, Mahuta retained her electorate seat of Hauraki-Waikato, defeating the Māori Party's Donna Pokere-Phillips by a final margin of 9,660 votes.[23]

Mahuta was announced as the next Minister of Foreign Affairs on 2 November 2020.[24] She received international recognition[25] as the first woman (and first Māori woman) to hold the Foreign Affairs portfolio.[26] In addition, she retained her portfolio of Minister for Local Government while becoming Associate Minister of Māori Development.[27]

On 3 November, former Prime Minister Helen Clark and the Māori Council criticised the international media's description of Mahuta as a "tattooed Māori woman" for focusing on her physical appearance and ethnicity.[28][29] On 4 November, right-wing blogger and author Olivia Pierson drew criticism and media coverage for posting a tweet stating that "Facial tattoos, especially on a female diplomat, is the height of ugly, uncivilised wokedom." In response, Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon criticised Pierson's actions and said that "Mahuta's kauae moko was special to Māori and should be celebrated." Mahuta declined to comment on the issue. Following criticism of Pierson's post on social media, online retailer Mighty Ape delisted Pierson's book Western Values Defended: A Primer. Pierson described the delisting of her book as "cancel culture" and claimed she had received death threats.[30][31]

On 18 November, Mahuta joined her Australian, Canadian, British and American counterparts in condemning the disqualification of pro-democracy Hong Kong legislators as a breach of Hong Kong's autonomy and rights under the Sino-British Joint Declaration.[32][33] In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Zhao Lijian warned the Five Eyes countries, stating that "No matter if they have five eyes or 10 eyes, if they dare to harm China's sovereignty, security and development interests, they should beware of their eyes being poked and blinded."[34][35] In response, Mahuta defended New Zealand's commitment to free speech, free media, and democracy.[33]

On 9 February, Mahuta announced that New Zealand had suspended high-level bilateral relations with Myanmar in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. The New Zealand Government joined other Western governments in refusing to recognise the new military-led government and called for the restoration of civilian-led rule. In addition, aid projects were diverted away from the Myanmar military and a travel ban was imposed on Myanmar's military leaders.[36][37]

On 4 December 2020, Mahuta, in her role as Minister of Local Government, informed the Tauranga City Council of her intention to appoint commissioners following bitter infighting within the city council that had led to the resignation of the Mayor of Tauranga Tenby Powell on 19 November. Local Government New Zealand supported the move to appoint commissioners in order to get the city's governance "back on track."[38] On 18 December, Mahuta confirmed that the Government would be appointing commissioners to administrate Tauranga since the City Council did not provide "sufficient evidence" about how it was addressing the city's governance issues. These commissioners' term will begin in early 2021 and last until the next triennial local body elections scheduled for October 2022.[39]

On 1 February 2021, Mahuta announced that the Government would pass legislation upholding local councils' decisions to establish Māori wards. This new law would also abolish an existing law allowing local referendums to veto decisions by councils to establish Māori wards. This law is intended to come into effect before the scheduled 2022 local body elections.[40][41]