Tina Pupuke-Browne (born 4 April 1955) 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 a 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 ...

. She is the leader of the Democratic Party.

Career

Brown was born in 1955 and is from the island of

Rakahanga Rakahanga is part of the Cook Islands, situated in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. The unspoilt atoll is from the Cook Islands' capital, Rarotonga, and lies south of the equator. Its nearest neighbour is Manihiki which is just away. Raka ...

and is the daughter of former Cook Islands Prime Minister

Pupuke Robati Sir Pupuke Robati, KBE (9 April 1925 – 26 April 2009) was a Cook Island politician. He served as Prime Minister of the Cook Islands from 29 July 1987 to 1 February 1989. Robati was from the island of Rakahanga. He completed his primary a ...

. She was educated at

Tereora College Tereora College is a secondary school in Nikao, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. It is the oldest secondary school in the Cook Islands and the national college of the Cook Islands for Year 9–13 students. The school was first established in 1895 by th ...

and then attended the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in 1979 – the first woman from Rarotonga to do so. She subsequently worked for New Zealand law firm

Russell McVeagh Russell McVeagh is a New Zealand law firm with offices in Auckland and Wellington. It is one of New Zealand's largest law firms and is ranked highly by law firm ranking guides such as ''The Legal 500'' and ''Chambers and Partners''. History Jo ...

. She returned to the Cook Islands in 1981 to work for the Crown Law Office before entering private practice. She served as president of the Cook Islands Netball Association. Browne first entered politics in 1996, when she contested the Nikao-Panama by-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 ...

. She was defeated by

Ngamau Munokoa Ngamau Mere Munokoa (born 13 August 1944), also known as "Aunty Mau", is a Cook Islands politician and former Cabinet Minister. She was the third woman ever elected to the Cook Islands Parliament, the second appointed to Cabinet, and the first ...

. She was elected as leader of the Democratic Party in April 2017, replacing

William (Smiley) Heather William Kati (Smiley) Heather (born 7 July 1958) is a Cook Islands politician and former Cabinet Minister. He represented the seat of Ruaau in the Cook Islands Parliament from 2006 to 2022 and is Deputy Leader of the Cook Islands Democratic Pa ...

. In the 2018 election she contested the seat of

, losing to the

's Toka Hagai. Hagai subsequently resigned the seat following allegations of treating, and Browne won it following an electoral petition. In December 2019 she was part of a protest by women MPs to permit the wearing of ei katu (floral crowns) in Parliament. In April 2020 she led several MPs in taking a pay cut during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. During 2020 she supported the government's efforts to prevent the spread of covid to the Cook Islands, and later opposed the government's lifting of quarantine. In March 2021 she joined the government in opposing a 10-year moratorium on seabed mining. She was re-elected at 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Tina 1955 births Living people People from Aitutaki University of Canterbury alumni Members of the Parliament of the Cook Islands Democratic Party (Cook Islands) politicians Cook Island women in politics 21st-century New Zealand women politicians 21st-century New Zealand politicians Cook Island lawyers Women lawyers University of Canterbury Faculty of Law alumni