Dame Georgina te Heuheu, DNZM for services to the State and Maori
The Honourable Dame Georgina Te Heuheu was appointed a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order in 1993 before becoming a Member of Parliament, serving five terms until retiring in 2011 and assuming the role of Chair of Māori Television, a position she has held since 2012.
Dame Georgina was Cabinet Minister in the fourth and fifth National Governments, holding the portfolios for Courts, Pacific Island Affairs, Disarmament and Arms Control, and Women’s Affairs. She was Associate Minister of Treaty Negotiations, Health and Māori Affairs, with delegated responsibility for Māori Broadcasting. She chaired the Māori Affairs Committee, was a member of the Regulations Review Committee, and Deputy Chair of Fisheries and Other Sea-related Legislation Committee and the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee. Before entering Parliament, Dame Georgina was a Member of the Waitangi Tribunal for ten years, a Director of the Māori Development Corporation, the Midland Regional Health Authority, and Te Papa, and a Member of the Council of the University of Waikato. Dame Georgina is Deputy Chair of the Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board and the Tūwharetoa Settlement Trust.