Fanaura Kingstone
Fanaura Kimiora Kingstone is a former Cook Islands politician and Cabinet Minister. In 1983 she became the second woman elected to the Parliament of the Cook Islands, and the first appointed to Cabinet.
While living in New Zealand, Kingstone worked as a schoolteacher in Tokoroa. In 1976 she helped organise the inaugural conference of the Pacific Women's Council, later Pacifica. She ran for a seat on the Wellington City Council in the 1977 Wellington City mayoral election. In 1978 she was appointed to the New Zealand Equal Opportunities Panel.
Kingstone was elected to the Cook Islands Parliament as a Cook Islands Party candidate in the Overseas electorate in the March 1983 Cook Islands general election. She had opposed the creation of the Overseas electorate and promised to resign immediately if elected. She changed her mind after she was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Internal Affairs and Postmistress General, becoming the first woman to hold a cabinet seat. She lost her seat and her Cabinet portfolios in the November 1983 Cook Islands general election.
After leaving Parliament Kingstone returned to New Zealand. She later moved to Port Vila, Vanuatu and worked for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and as president of the Vanuatu Netball Association. She later worked as a Women's Development Advisor for the South Pacific Commission. She later worked with former New Zealand MP Marilyn Waring at the Centre for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics and at the United Nations Development Fund for Women.Recognition
Kingstone was made a companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services in the 1986 Birthday Honours.
In September 2018, Kingstone was keynote speaker at a New Zealand Cook Islands community event marking 125 years of Women's suffrage in New Zealand.
In October 2019, Kingstone was inducted into the hall of fame at the inaugural Vaine Rangatira awards for Cook Islands women.
