Naida Glavish
Dame Rangimarie Naida Glavish is a New Zealand politician and Māori community leader from the Ngāti Whātua iwi. From 2013 to 2016, she was President of the Māori Party.
Glavish first came to national attention in 1984, when she was a telephone operator for the New Zealand Post Office, and used the Māori language greeting "kia ora" when dealing with callers. She was threatened with dismissal by her supervisor, but the prime minister of the day, Robert Muldoon, supported Glavish's use of the phrase.
A member of Mana Motuhake, Glavish stood for the Alliance in the Te Tai Tokerau electorate at the 2002 general election, finishing third out of nine candidates. She was ranked tenth on the Alliance party list, and consequently was not elected to Parliament as the Alliance's party vote did not reach the five percent threshold.
At the 2008 general election, Glavish was a list-only candidate for the Māori Party, ranked at number eight on their list, and was not elected to Parliament. She stood again on the Māori Party list, with a ranking of 11th, at the 2014 general election, and once more was unsuccessful.Honours
In the 2011 New Year Honours, Glavish was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori and the community. In the 2018 New Year Honours, she was promoted to Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, also for services to Māori and the community, and therefore granted the title dame.
