Tutekawa "Tu" Wyllie (born 24 October 1954) is a former

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 ...

politician and

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. A first five-eighth, Wyllie represented

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

at a provincial level, and played one match for the New Zealand national side, the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

, in 1980. He was the New Zealand First Member of Parliament for

Te Tai Tonga Te Tai Tonga () is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorates, Māori electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand New Zealand House of Representatives, House of Representatives. It was established for the 1996 New Zeal ...

from 1996 to 1999.

Early life

Born in Manutuke, Wyllie affiliates to the Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Ngāti Ruapani and Rongowhakaata

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

. He was educated at Gisborne Boys' High School where he played rugby for the 1st XV. He then went to

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

, where he studied law. He worked as a bus driver, court clerk, teacher trainee and as a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Education, Iwi Transition Agency and the Department of Health.

Rugby career

While at Victoria, Wyllie played rugby league for New Zealand Universities between 1975 and 1977. He then played representative rugby union for

from 1978 to 1983 and New Zealand Māori from 1979 to 1982. In the off-seasons he played overseas, in Ireland, the United States, Germany and France. His sole appearance for the

came in 1980, when he played against the touring Fijian side, scoring a try. The game was not recognised as a full international.

Member of Parliament

Wyllie represented

as a member of Parliament from 1996 to 1999 for the New Zealand First Party. He defeated 29-year parliamentary veteran Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan with a majority of 285 votes enabling New Zealand First to capture all five

Māori electorates In Politics of New Zealand, New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially known as the Māori seats (), are a special category of New Zealand electorates, electorate that give Reserved political positions, reserved positions to repre ...

in the 1996 election (including Te Tai Tonga). When the Tight five led by

Tau Henare Raymond Tau Henare (born 29 September 1960) is a former New Zealand Māori people, Māori parliamentarian. In representing three different political parties in parliament—New Zealand First, Mauri Pacific and the New Zealand National Party, Na ...

splintered from New Zealand First and created the

Mauri Pacific Mauri Pacific () was a short-lived political party in New Zealand. It was formed in 1998 by five former members of the New Zealand First party. It has often been described as a Māori people, Māori party. Officially, Mauri Pacific was a multicu ...

party, Wyllie chose to remain loyal to the party core. During the 1999 election he sought re-election as MP for Te Tai Tonga, but chose not to stand on the party list. He was defeated by

Mahara Okeroa Te Whakamaharatanga Okeroa (born 1946) is a former New Zealand politician of the New Zealand Labour Party. He represented the Te Tai Tonga Māori electorates, Māori electorate as a Member of parliament, Member of Parliament from 1999 to 2008. ...

of the Labour Party by 4522 votes. During his term in Parliament, Wyllie also played for the parliamentary rugby team.

Post Parliamentary career

Protest against the sale of Young Nicks head

Following his defeat in the 1999 election Wyllie returned to Gisborne in an effort to assist Ngai Tamanuhiri to prevent the sale of Young Nick's Head (Te Kuri), a place of historical, and spiritual significance to local Māori. Wyllie stated that "It is the absolute jewel in the crown because Young Nick’s Head, or Te Kuri as we know it, is our equivalent to Hikurangi for Ngāti Porou and Aorangi or Aoraki for Ngāi Tahu. It is our mountain, it is what identifies us as an iwi and we have some real issues about what’s going to happen to it in the future". Ngai Tamanuhri tribal members led by Wyllie conducted a protest march and pitched their tents on the grounds of

New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament () is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the Monarchy of New Zealand, Sovereign and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by his Governor-General of New Zeal ...

. He later lost his mandate as iwi spokesperson after he filed a judicial application to overturn Michael Cullen's decision to approve the sale of the landmark. Young Nicks Head was consequently sold to American millionaire John Griffin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyllie, Tu 1954 births Living people Ngāi Tāmanuhiri people Rongowhakaata people Ngāti Ruapani people People educated at Gisborne Boys' High School Māori All Blacks players New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand sportsperson-politicians Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand First MPs New Zealand MPs for Māori electorates Victoria University of Wellington alumni 21st-century New Zealand politicians Halbert-Kohere family Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union players from the Gisborne Region Wellington rugby union players