Hon. Te-Hani Rose Alexandra Brown
Hon. Te-Hani Rose Alexandra Brown
Party: Democratic Party
Term: 2018-2022; 2022 - current
Electorate: Tengtangi-Areora-Ngatiarua
Province: N/A
Political Status: Member of Parliament
Te-Hani Rose Alexandra Brown (born 16 March 1996) is a Cook Islands politician and member of the Cook Islands Parliament. She is an independent.
Te-Hani Brown was born in 1996 in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.[1] Brown is the daughter of MP Rose Toki-Brown.[2] She was first elected to parliament as a candidate for the Cook Islands Democratic Party in the 2018 election,[3] defeating her predecessor Nandi Glassie. At age 22, she was the youngest MP in the Pacific region.[4][5]
In January 2019 Brown resigned from the Democratic party to support the government of Henry Puna.[6] Anti-party hopping laws forced her to resign from parliament. She contested the subsequent by-election as an independent, and was re-elected,[7] but resigned the seat again just two weeks later when an electoral petition was filed.[8] She contested a second by-election in November 2019 and was re-elected for a third time.[9]
Following the election of Mark Brown as Prime Minister she was appointed Associate Minister of Internal Affairs and Health.[10]
She was re-elected at the 2022 Cook Islands general election[11] and continued her support for Mark Brown.[12]