Vainetutai Rose Toki-Brown (born 7 December 1976) 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

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 ...

. In July 2016 she became the Cook Islands' first female

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

Career

Toki-Brown was born in Areora on

Atiu Ātiu, also known as ʻEnuamanu (meaning ''land of the birds''), is an island of the Cook Islands archipelago, lying in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. Part of the Nga-pu-Toru, it is northeast of Rarotonga. The population of the island has ...

. She was a businesswoman and ran the 24 hours Super Brown Mega Store with her husband. She is the mother of fellow MP Te-Hani Brown. Toki-Brown ran in the 2014 election as a candidate for 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 ...

, defeating her uncle Norman George to win the Teenui–Mapumai seat. An election petition by George was subsequently dismissed. She was appointed Deputy Speaker in October 2014, following then-opposition leader Teina Bishop's conviction for corruption in September 2016 (she resigned as Deputy Speaker after she was unanimously elected leader of the Opposition). Toki-Brown was replaced as Deputy Speaker by Mona Ioane. In June 2017 Toki-Brown rejoined the Cook Islands Party after being replaced by William (Smiley) Heather as leader of the opposition. While originally planning to run for the CIP in the 2018 election, she became an independent after pressure was put on her over her daughter running for the rival Cook Islands Democratic Party. She was elected, defeating both Democratic and Cook Islands Party candidates. Following the election she backed the Cook Islands Party government and was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Health, Justice, Parliamentary Services and Agriculture. In July 2019 she briefly served as Acting Prime Minister, the first woman to do so. In the Cabinet reshuffle following the appointment of Mark Brown as Prime Minister she retained all of her Cabinet portfolios. A second reshuffle in June 2021 saw her switch her Justice portfolio for Internal Affairs. She was re-elected at the 2022 Cook Islands general election and continued her support for Mark Brown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toki-Brown, Rose Living people 1976 births People from Atiu Members of the Parliament of the Cook Islands Cook Islands Party politicians Cook Island women in politics 21st-century Cook Island women 21st-century New Zealand women politicians 21st-century New Zealand politicians Government ministers of the Cook Islands Women government ministers of the Cook Islands Interior ministers of the Cook Islands Health ministers of the Cook Islands Agriculture ministers of the Cook Islands Justice ministers of the Cook Islands Female interior ministers