Photo: Paul Moss
Dame Areta Koopu. comes from the East Coast, near Gisborne, from a hapu with a strong connection to the land they have farmed for generations. Her life's work led her to head the Maori Women's Welfare League in the 1990's, to the Waitangi Tribunal where she was a member for more than a decade, she was a Human Rights Commissioner, a marriage guidance counsellor, a mediator, a peacemaker and a wife and mother.
