Patrick Arioka (born 24 July 1971) is a

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

politician and former

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

. He is a former member of the

Cook Islands Parliament The Parliament of the Cook Islands () is the legislature of the Cook Islands. Originally established under New Zealand administration, it became the national legislature upon independence in 1965. The Parliament consists of 24 members dir ...

, representing the seat of Murienua. He is a member of the

Cook Islands Party The Cook Islands Party is a nationalist political party in the Cook Islands. It was the first political party founded in the Cook Islands, and one of the two major parties of the islands' politics since 1965. From 1999 until 2005 it sometimes ...

. Arioka was born on

Rarotonga Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of , and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 10,898 of a total population of 15,040. The Parliament of the Cook Islands, Coo ...

and educated at Avatea School, Avarua School, and Atiu College. He studied tropical agriculture at the

University of the South Pacific The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a public research university with locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. Established in 1968, the university is organised as an intergovernmental organisation and is owned by the gov ...

campus in

Alafua Alafua is an urban village in the Faleata District in the Samoan capital of Apia. Alafua had 1,347 residents according to the 2016 census. The village is home to the Samoan campus of the University of the South Pacific. It is also near the Robert ...

, followed by a Master in Business Administration. He worked as a forestry officer for the government, and then as a policy advisor. He served on the board of the Cook Islands Red Cross Society from 2006 to 2018, and from 2016 to 2018 was its president. Arioka served as campaign manager for unsuccessful CIP candidate Kaota Tuariki in the 2014 Murienua by-election. He contested the seat himself at the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, losing to the Democratic party's James Beer. He entered parliament after winning the seat at the 2018 election. Following the election he was appointed associate agriculture minister. On 8 October 2020 Arioka was appointed to the Cabinet of Prime Minister Mark Brown as Minister of Tourism and the Business Trade and Investment Board. A further reshuffle on 2 June 2021 saw him gain the Telecommunications portfolio. He lost his seat in the

2022 Cook Islands general election The 2022 Cook Islands general election was held on 1 August 2022 to determine the composition of the 18th Parliament of the Cook Islands. A referendum on legalising medical cannabis was held on the same day. Background In the 2018 general e ...

. In January 2023 he was appointed to the board of the

Cook Islands Investment Corporation Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (profession), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * Ch ...

References

Living people 1971 births category:People from Rarotonga University of the South Pacific alumni category:Cook Island civil servants Members of the Parliament of the Cook Islands Government ministers of the Cook Islands Tourism ministers of the Cook Islands Cook Islands Party politicians {{CookIslands-politician-stub