Linda Te Puni
{{Short description|New Zealand diplomat}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Linda Te Puni is a diplomat from New Zealand of Māori heritage. She served as the High Commissioner to the Cook Islands from 2010 until 2011 and Tuvalu beginning in 2016. She has also been Administrator of Tokelau.
Biography
Te Puni is a descendant of the Te Ati Awa chief Honiana Te Puni.{{Cite web |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/98436051/wellington-gets-permanent-art-exhibition-on-lambton-quay|title=Wellington gets permanent art exhibition on Lambton Quay|last=Swinnen|first=Lucy|date=3 November 2017|website=Stuff|access-date=2017-11-22}}
Te Puni worked at several jobs before becoming a diplomat, including cutting fish in Iceland, as a farmworker in Israel and working in London pubs.{{Cite news|url=http://www.cookislandsnews.com/item/32945-linda-te-puni-is-proud-to-be-the-first-woman-high-commissioner-to-cooks/32945-linda-te-puni-is-proud-to-be-the-first-woman-high-commissioner-to-cooks |title=Linda Te Puni is proud to be the first woman high commissioner to Cooks|last=Reeves|first=Rachel|date=3 April 2011|work=Cook Islands News|access-date=2017-11-22 }} Te Puni joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1987.{{Cite news |url=http://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/our_stories/globalmana/ |title=Global Mana|work=Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu|access-date=2017-11-22 }} She has served in Honiara, Samoa, Ottawa, Mexico, Paris, Suva and Wellington.
In 2010, Te Puni moved to Rarotonga as the first woman New Zealand high commissioner to the Cook Islands. Between 2015 and 2016, she was Administrator of Tokelau, the first woman to hold that role.{{Cite web |url= https://www.tokelau.org.nz/Administrators+Corner/Administrators+of+Tokelau.html |title= Administrators of Tokelau|website=Government of Tokelau |access-date=2017-11-22}} In 2016, she was appointed as high commissioner to Tuvalu.{{Cite news |url= http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/297921/nz-appoints-new-non-resident-tuvalu-high-commissioner |title=NZ appoints new non-resident Tuvalu high commissioner|date=2016-03-02|work=Radio New Zealand|access-date=2017-11-22|language=en-nz}} In December 2018 she became ambassador to Chile.{{cite web |last=Peters |first=Winston |date=21 December 2018 |title=Announcement of new Ambassador to Chile |url=https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/announcement-new-ambassador-chile |website=Beehive.govt.nz |accessdate=24 January 2025}}
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Administrators of Tokelau
Category:High commissioners of New Zealand to the Cook Islands
Category:High commissioners of New Zealand to Tuvalu
Category:Ambassadors of New Zealand to Chile
Category:Permanent delegates of New Zealand to UNESCO
Category:New Zealand women ambassadors
Category:20th-century New Zealand diplomats
Category:20th-century New Zealand women public servants
Category:21st-century New Zealand diplomats
Category:21st-century New Zealand women public servants
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