Teariki Heather

Who is Teariki Heather?

Teariki William Heather is a Cook Islands politician and Cabinet Minister. He represents the constituency of Akaoa for the Cook Islands Party.

Heather was born on Rarotonga and educated at Arorangi Primary school and Tereora College. He is the younger brother of Democratic Party MP William Heather. He was a businessman before entering politics.

In March 2003 Heather founded the Cook Islands National Party with the aim of securing political reform, including a shorter Parliamentary term. The party launched a high-profile court case against MPs Norman George and Paora Teiti in an effort to have them unseated for performing consultancy work for the government, which was seen as making them public servants and thus ineligible to hold office, but the case was unsuccessful. Heather contested the 2003 Rua'au by-election as a National Party candidate, but was unsuccessful. He subsequently disbanded the party and joined the Cook Islands Party.

In the 2004 elections Heather entered Parliament after winning the seat of Akaoa. The 2006 election produced a tie in the seat, forcing a by-election which Heather won.