By 1news.co.nz
A mother, daughter of a migrant and an “OG Taranaki girl”.
That’s some of the ways new deputy prime minister Carmel Sepuloni describes herself. She is also the first New Zealander of Pacific Island heritage to take on the role.
Addressing reporters in the Beehive Theatrette with incoming Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on Sunday, Sepuloni said she would back Hipkins “every step of the way” and was humbled to be chosen as his deputy prime minister.
“It’s very hard to fathom that a working class girl from Waitara who turned westie … can become the deputy prime minister of New Zealand – and now I get to back up the boy from the Hutt.”
Sepuloni, who was also New Zealand’s first MP of Tongan descent, was referencing Hipkins’ description of himself from a press stand-up interview on Saturday.
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On Sunday, Sepuloni said she was “proudly Samoan, Tongan and New Zealand European”.
She said she represented “generations of New Zealanders with mixed heritage” and acknowledged the significance of the moment to Pacific communities.
“As deputy prime minister I will continue to be focused [on] serving our communities and whānau and Aotearoa.”
She acknowledged outgoing prime minister and deputy Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson and said they were “big shoes to fill”.
Hipkins and Sepuloni all smiles as they leave Labour caucus meeting
Tipped as a favourite for the role after Kiritapu Allan ruled herself out on Saturday, Social Development Minister Sepuloni was first elected in 2008, and has served under six leaders – Hipkins will be the seventh.
Sepuloni drew amusement on the internet during 2021, when, during a live on-camera interview with Radio Samoa, her son – one of her two – burst into the room brandishing a phallic-shaped carrot.
Sepuloni posted the video on Twitter saying “I will never buy the odd shaped carrot pack again”.
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After New Plymouth was named world’s most liveable city in December 2021, Sepuloni also took to Twitter with her congratulations, saying she may be a West Aucklander now but she was “very proud to be an OG Taranaki girl”.
Sepuloni was Labour’s spokeswoman for social development, Pacific Island affairs, education, children and disability issues, becoming a minister after the 2017 election.
It was as the minister for disability issues Sepuloni attracted some controversy in 2018 when she and former Labour minister Iain Lees-Galloway spent a day in wheelchairs at Parliament, in an attempt to understand accessibility challenges first-hand.
The two were invited to do so by the Spinal Trust, but some criticism, such as an opinion piece in The Spinoff, said it was offensive to disabled people as it was “dress up” and “disrespectful”.
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In October 2021, Sepuloni announced the creation of a Ministry for Disability Issues, saying the Government had acknowledged the call to lift disability support out of the health system where it had been.
Disability advocates supported the move. The disability issues portfolio was handed over to Poto Williams in 2022.
Sepuloni, as ACC Minister, was also in charge of the Accident Compensation (Maternal Birth Injury and Other Matters) Amendment Bill, which changed rules so childbirth injuries were covered by ACC.
The law passed in 2022.
Sepuloni is also the Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister, and regularly posts on social media about art and culture events. Her husband Daren Kamali is a writer, musician and artist.
Born and raised in Waitara, north-east of New Plymouth, Sepuloni moved to Auckland in 1996, gained a postgraduate diploma in education, and worked in health and education, including as a literacy educator with youth in West Auckland. She also taught in Samoa, and managed equity programmes at the University of Auckland.
In her maiden speech in 2008, Sepuloni said she had a “quintessentially” New Zealand upbringing, with her father working at the Waitara freezing works and her mother at the Swanndri factory and later as a kiwifruit picker.
“My maternal grandparents were sheep farmers in Stratford. Growing up I saw the most wonderful display of contrasting political views.
“[My mothers’ parents] were resolute tories. My father was at the other end of the political spectrum and was a staunch supporter of the Labour party.”
She recalled a story where her grandfather was “grumbling” about the Labour Party and she said “but granddad, the Labour Party looks after the poor people”.
“His response to that was ‘just eat your ruddy weetbix’”.
