George Angene

{{Short description|Cook Islands politician (born 1961)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}

{{Use New Zealand English|date=February 2017}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix =

|honorific-suffix =

|image = George Angene 2019.jpg

|caption = Angene in 2019

|office =

|primeminister =

|term_start =

|term_end =

|predecessor =

|successor =

|office2 =

|term_start2 =

|term_end2 =

|primeminister2 =

|predecessor2 =

|successor2 =

|office3 = Minister of Cultural Development and House of Ariki

|primeminister3 = Henry Puna
Mark Brown

|term_start3 = 10 July 2018

|term_end3 =

|predecessor3 = Teariki Heather

|successor3 =

|office4 = Minister of Corrections

|primeminister4 = Henry Puna
Mark Brown

|term_start4 = 10 July 2018

|term_end4 =

|predecessor4 = None (Portfolio created)

|successor4 =

|constituency_MP5 = Tupapa–Maraerenga

|parliament5 = Cook Islands

|term_start5 = 17 November 2010

|term_end5 =

|predecessor5 = John Tangi

|successor5 =

|majority5 =

|constituency_MP6 =

|parliament6 =

|term_start6 =

|term_end6 =

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|birth_date = 8 March 1961

|birth_place =

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|party = One Cook Islands Movement
Cook Islands Party

|alma_mater =

|website =

}}

George Maggie Angene (born 8 March 1961){{cite web |url=https://parliament.gov.ck/team/hon-george-angene/ |title=Hon. George ANGENE |publisher=Cook Islands Parliament |access-date=14 August 2022}} is a Cook Islands politician and Cabinet Minister. He is a former member of the Cook Islands Party, and is now a member of the One Cook Islands Movement.

Angene was born in Tupapa Rarotonga and attended a local primary school, but received no secondary education.{{cite web |url=http://www.cookislandsnews.com/national/politics/item/69395-election-candidates-explain-their-aims |title=Election candidates explain their aims |publisher=Cook Islands News |date=22 May 2018 |access-date=27 June 2020}} He is a former criminal who has served time in prison and describes himself as "one of the biggest criminals on Rarotonga".{{cite web |url=http://www.cinews.co.ck/2010/April/Wed14/local.htm#1004090104 |title=Bad boy bolts in |publisher=Cook Islands News |date=9 April 2010 |access-date=19 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420215132/http://www.cinews.co.ck/2010/April/Wed14/local.htm |archive-date=20 April 2010}} He became infamous in Rarotonga when he in 1992 set fire to the building block encompassing Ministry of Justice, Cook Islands Post Office and Telecom which were all badly damaged.{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-340762702/view?sectionId=nla.obj-344869634 |title=FIRE Rarotonga recovers after blaze |work=Pacific Islands Monthly |volume=62 |issue=6 |date=1 June 1992 |page=16|access-date=24 July 2021 |via=National Library of Australia}} Angene was sentenced to 13 years' jail for arson but was paroled and released in 1999. He learned new skills in prison and converted to Christianity.

He was selected as Cook Islands Party candidate for Tupapa–Maraerenga in a public runoff, and subsequently won the seat in the 2010 election.

In May 2014 Angene was expelled from the CIP after publicly refusing to back the party's position on superannuation.{{cite web |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/pacific/243368/cook-islands-mp-sacked-for-not-supporting-taxing-pensioners |title=Cook Islands MP sacked for not supporting taxing pensioners |publisher=RNZ |date=5 May 2014 |access-date=27 June 2020}} He stood instead for the One Cook Islands Movement and was re-elected in the 2014 election. He was re-elected again at the 2018 election.{{cite web |url=http://www.justice.gov.ck/index.php/2-uncategorised/74-elections-14th-june-2018 |title=Preliminary Results from Votes Counted 14-06-2018 |publisher=Cook Islands Ministry of Justice |date=14 June 2018 |access-date=18 June 2018}} Following the election he was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Corrective Services, Culture, Business Trade and Investment Board and the House of Ariki{{cite web |url=http://www.cookislandsnews.com/item/70000-brown-dpm-in-new-cabinet/70000-brown-dpm-in-new-cabinet |title=Brown DPM in new cabinet |publisher=Cook Islands News |date=10 July 2018 |access-date=19 October 2018}} and rejoined the Cook Islands Party. In the reshuffle following the appointment of Mark Brown as Prime Minister he surrendered the Business Trade and Investment Board portfolio to Patrick Arioka, and became Minister of the Punanga Nui Market instead. He retained his other portfolios.{{cite web |url=http://www.cookislandsnews.com/national/politics/item/78813-pm-takes-on-17-portfolios |title=PM takes on 17 portfolios |publisher=Cook Islands News |author=Emmanuel Samoglou and Rashneel Kumar |date=8 October 2020 |access-date=9 October 2020}} A further reshuffle in June 2021 saw him retain his core portfolios, and gain responsibility for the Head of State.{{cite web |url=https://www.cookislandsnews.com/internal/national/economy/pm-announces-cabinet-reshuffle/ |title=PM announces Cabinet reshuffle |author=Rashneel Kumar |publisher=Cook Islands News |date=3 June 2021 |access-date=5 June 2021}}

In April 2021 an audit report found that Angene had acted improperly in arranging day-release for a convicted child-murderer to work in a tourism business.{{cite web |url=https://www.cookislandsnews.com/internal/national/crime/opposition-demands-action-on-cabinet-mp-after-release-of-audit-report/ |title=Opposition demands action on cabinet MP after release of audit report |publisher=Cook Islands News |date=12 April 2021 |access-date=13 April 2021}} In June 2021 he called for planned elections in 2022 to be delayed if the COVID-19 crisis continued in order to save money.{{cite web |url=https://www.cookislandsnews.com/national/politics/minister-proposes-delaying-2022-elections/ |title=Minister proposes delaying 2022 elections |author=Caleb Fotheringham |publisher=Cook Islands News |date=25 June 2021 |access-date=26 June 2021}}

He ran as a Cook Islands Party candidate in the 2022 election and was re-elected.{{cite web |url=https://www.cookislandsnews.com/national/politics/action-mans-last-hurrah-in-politics/ |title='Action man's' last hurrah in politics |author= Caleb Fotheringham |publisher=Cook Islands News |date=3 August 2022 |access-date=4 August 2022}} He stated that this would be his last term.