Rana Waitai


Rana Donald Waitai is a former New Zealand politician. He was a member of parliament from 1996 to 1999.

Early years

His father was Te Rangi Koroingo Te Oreore Waitai born and died in Lower Hutt. His mother was Mavis Lillian Waitai born in Nelson and died in Lower Hutt.
Rana Waitai was the partner of Te Aroha Ann Ruru Stanton from 1966 to 1995 and they
have four daughters.
Following his secondary schooling at Wanganui Technical College,, Rana Waitai was a Freezing Worker at Wanganui in 1961, a Bushman in 1961 at Karioi and also a factory worker. He later became a trainee probation officer at Wellington and in 1965 joined the New Zealand Police. In 1979 Waitai was the Duty Inspector at Police National Headquarters when Air New Zealand Flight 901 crashed on Erebus. He rang Chief Superintendent Brian Davies who was at home in the evening: "We seem to have a small problem.... We have lost a DC-10 sir." He retired from the Police at the rank of Superintendent after 31 years.
Waitai was involved in the New Zealand National Party between 1973 and 1992, quitting after a dispute with then Prime Minister, Jim Bolger. He rejoined the National Party in 2000.

Member of Parliament

Waitai was first elected to Parliament in the 1996 election as New Zealand First MP for the Māori electorate of Te Puku O Te Whenua as one of the Tight Five, having previously stood for the Gisborne seat. In 1998, when New Zealand First splintered, Waitai was one of the eight MPs who left the party. He eventually joined with four other MPs to form the Mauri Pacific party. In the 1999 election, he stood in the electorate and was ranked fourth on Mauri Pacific's list, but the party failed to win any seats.

Law career

Rana Waitai is now a retired Barrister and Solicitor in Wanganui.
He holds the following academic degrees – Bachelor of Arts 1978, Bachelor of Law 2003, Master of Public Policy 1981, Master of Law Research paper Terrorism Laws of New Zealand.

Local politics

In 2005, Waitai attempted to re-enter politics as a by-election candidate for the Wanganui District Council. Although soundly defeated, he was successful in being elected to the council and the Whanganui district health board in the local body elections of October 2007. He was deputy chairman of the council's Harbour and Maori committees.