Former New Zealand Speaker Adrian Paki Rurawhe dies

Former Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Adrian Paki Rurawhe has died after a recent illness, his whānau has announced (1News).

Waatea News reported that his family said he passed peacefully at 2.15am on 30 September surrounded by loved ones (Waatea News).

Rurawhe was the 31st Speaker of the House, elected in August 2022 and serving until December 2023. He had been a Labour MP since 2014, representing Te Tai Hauāuru, and previously served as Assistant Speaker from 2017 and Deputy Speaker from 2020. He retired from Parliament on Waitangi Day, 6 February 2026, saying he wanted to spend more time with whānau and the church (Chris Lynch Media).

A grandson of former MPs Matiu and Iriaka Rātana and a great-grandson of T.W. Rātana, founder of the Rātana church, Rurawhe carried one of the deepest political whakapapa in Parliament.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins called him “one of the finest people ever to sit in the New Zealand Parliament”, adding: “He carried the mana of his people and of the Speaker’s Chair with dignity and respect” (1News).

He will lie in state at Whangaehu Marae before burial at Ngā Puketuurua, Rātana Pā. The whānau has asked for time and space to grieve.