Linda Te Puni

Linda Te Puni is a diplomat from New Zealand of Māori heritage. She has served as the High Commissioner to the Cook Islands from 2010 until 2011 and Tuvalu beginning in 2016. She has also been Administrator of Tokelau.

Biography

Te Puni is a descendant of the Te Ati Awa chief, Honiana Te Puni.[1]

Te Puni worked several interesting jobs before becoming a diplomat, including cutting fish in Iceland, as a farmworker in Israel and working in London's pubs.[2] Te Puni joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1987.[3] She has served in places such as Honiara, Samoa, Ottawa, Mexico, Paris, Suva and Wellington.[2]

In 2010, Te Puni moved to Rarotonga and she became the first woman to become the New Zealand high commissioner to the Cook Islands.[2] Between 2015 and 2016, she was Administrator of Tokelau and the first woman to hold that role.[4] In 2016, she was appointed as high commissioner to Tuvalu.[5] In December 2018 she became ambassador to Chile.[6]

References
  1. Swinnen, Lucy (3 November 2017). "Wellington gets permanent art exhibition on Lambton Quay". Stuff. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  2. Reeves, Rachel (3 April 2011). "Linda Te Puni is proud to be the first woman high commissioner to Cooks". Cook Islands News. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  3. "Global Mana". Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  4. "Administrators of Tokelau". Government of Tokelau. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  5. "NZ appoints new non-resident Tuvalu high commissioner". Radio New Zealand. 2016-03-02. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  6. Peters, Winston. "Announcement of new Ambassador to Chile". The Official Website of the New Zealand Government. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
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