The 2025 New Year’s Honours list has been announced, recognising the achievements and service of individuals who have made a difference in their communities, with 35 Māori featured among Aotearoa’s 190 recipients.

The list is divided into three Orders from the New Zealand honours system: The Order of New Zealand, The New Zealand Order of Merit, and The King’s Service Order.

Individuals may also be awarded medals, including the King’s Service Medal, the New Zealand Antarctic Medal, and the New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration.

Here is the New Years Honours 2025 list with the Māori recipients:

Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit

Ingrid Collins, MNZM

For services to Māori, business and health governance

Ingrid Collins (Ngāti Porou) has contributed 50 years of governance to Whangara B5 Incorporation and was appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2007 for her services to Māori.

Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM)

Frederick John Graham, ONZM

For services to Māori art

Fred Graham (Ngāti Korokī Kahukura) has been involved in New Zealand art since the 1950s and has contributed to the growth, development and promotion of Māori art nationally and abroad.

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM)

Dr Peter John Cleave

For services to Māori language education

Dr Peter Cleave has been involved with retention and development of Te Reo Māori since the 1970s, holding numerous teaching roles at all levels.Dr Cleave has written books and co-written dictionaries for teaching Te Reo Māori, including early work collaborating on Māori mathematics in the late 1970s. He was instrumental in driving approval of the first Masters in Māori programme at the University of Waikato in 1975.

Heke-Turoa Ropine Huata

For services to Māori and education

Heke-Turoa Huata (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa ki Heretaunga, Ngāti Porou) was a foundational member of Te Waka Tapu o Takitimu in 1983, now Te Wānanga Whare Tapere o Takitimu, and has had roles as a tutor, administrator, national and international tour manager and performer.

Albert Puhirake Ihaka

For services to Māori and governance

Puhirake Ihaka (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Te Arawa, Ngāti Raukawa) is a long-standing leader of Ngāi te Rangi iwi, Ngāti Tapu hapu, and Waikari Marae.

Christine Rewa Panapa, MNZM

For services to Māori

Christine Panapa (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāti Tahu, Ngāti Whaoa, Ngāti Pikiao) was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2018 for her services to sport and Māori.

Dr Te Taku Parai

For services to Māori, governance and the community

Dr Taku Parai (Ngāti Toa, Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Tama) is a Ngāti Toa kaumatua who has contributed to the Porirua community for more than 50 years, including as mana whenua representative to Porirua City Council since 1999.

Dr Te Tuhi Robust

For services to Māori and education

Dr Te Tuhi Robust (Ngāpuhi Nui Tonu, Ngāti Porou) has been involved in the education sector for more than 30 years, specialising in Māori education and indigenous studies, and retired as Associate Professor Tai Tokerau at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in 2019.

Rear Admiral David Proctor

For services to the NZ Defence Force

Rear Admiral David Proctor (Ngāti Korokī Kahukura) has been a member of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) since 1987 and was the first Maritime Logistics Officer to be appointed as the Chief of Navy in 2018, retiring in 2024.

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM)

Dr Makarena Diana Dudley

For services to people with dementia, particularly Māori

Dr Makarena Dudley (Te Rarawa, Ngāti Kahu) is a clinical neuropsychologist who has spent 10 years focusing on dementia (mate wareware) in older Māori and is recognised as a world-leading researcher on indigenous health.

Shelley Aroha Katae

For services to Māori and Pacific communities

Shelley Katae (Te Rarawa, Ngāti Porou) has been the Chief Executive of Tāmaki Regeneration Company (TRC) since 2021.

Tania Phillippa Kingi

For services to Māori and people with disabilities

Tania Kingi (Ngāti Pukeko, Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Whakahemo, Ngāti Mākino, Ngāi Tai) is a disability rights advocate and leader in the social, health and disability sectors in Auckland.

Billie-Jean Potaka Ayton

For services to education and Māori

Billie-Jean Potaka Ayton (Ngāti Whakaaue) has been the Principal of Kaiti School for 16 years and has significantly increased the school roll from 130 students in 2009 to 450 students today.

Peter Allen

For services to disabled People

Peter Allen (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Tamatea, Kāi Tahu ki te Waipounamu) has been advocating for the rights of disabled people since his sight deteriorated due to Retinitis Pigmentosa.

Professor Rawinia Ruth Higgins

For services to Māori language, education and governance

Professor Rawinia Higgins (Ngāi Tūhoe) has been Deputy Vice-Chancellor Māori of Victoria University of Wellington since 2016 and, as a leading language revitalisation expert, academic and author, and has contributed to transforming the environment for the revitalisation of te reo Māori.

Professor Louise Parr-Brownlie

For services to neuroscience

Professor Louise Parr-Brownlie (Ngāti Maniapoto, Te Arawa) is internationally recognised for her pioneering research that has provided insight into treatment and care for people with Parkinson’s Disease.

Tania Mateohorere-Carole Pouwhare

For services to Māori and Pacific communities, and the environment

Tania Pouwhare (Ngāi Tūhoe) has been contributing to Auckland Council’s The Southern Initiative (TSI) since its establishment in 2015.

Associate Professor Linda Naumai Te Aho

For services to Māori and legal education

Associate Professor Linda Te Aho (Ngāti Korokī Kahukura, Ngāti Mahuta, Waikato) has contributed significantly to legal education at Te Piringa Faculty of Law, University of Waikato.

Nicola MacDonald

For services to the environment

Nicola MacDonald (Ngāti Wai, Te Rarawa, Taranaki) has championed environmental restoration and sustainability for more than a decade.

Norefjell Jacquiline Marama Tanga Royal, JP

For services to Māori and governance

Marama Royal (Ngāti Whātua ki Tāmaki) has chaired Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Trust since 2017, having been a Director from 2010 and Deputy Chair from 2015.

Noel Graham Harris

For services to the thoroughbred racing industry

Noel Harris (Te Ātiawa) competed as a jockey from 1970 to 2015 and has since shared his knowledge as an apprentice riding mentor.

The King’s Service Order (KSO)

Rūpene Paul Amato

For services to survivors of abuse in care

Rūpene Amato (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngā Ariki Kaiputahi) has been advocating for survivors of abuse for several years and has been a Board Member of the Waikato branch of Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse

Paora Crawford Moyle

For services to survivors of abuse in care

Paora Moyle (Ngāti Porou ki Wharekāhika) has used their personal experience to serve as a social worker for more than 30 years, advocating for children who have been removed from their families and placed in state and faith-based care.

Associate Professor Tristram Ingham

For services to survivors of abuse in care

Associate Professor Tristram Ingham (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga, Ngāti Porou) has used his personal experience as a disabled person to advocate for the rights of Tāngata Whaikaha Māori and to address inequities.

Gary Williams

For services to survivors of abuse in care

Gary Williams (Ngāti Porou) has been advocating for fellow disabled people in New Zealand institutions for several decades.

Leoni Frances Mclnroe

For services to survivors of abuse in care

Leoni Mclnroe (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tahu) tireless advocacy across 30 years culminated in a formal acknowledgement by the government of the abuse and torture of children and young people at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (Lake Alice Unit).

The King’s Service Medal (KSM)

Peter Herehere Priest

For services to Māori and conservation

Peter Priest (Te Ātiawa o Taranaki, Ngāti Rāhiri), together with his wife Sue Priest, have served their communities of Whangamatā and Waitara for 25 years, often in the roles of Chair and Treasurer respectively for various organisations.

Susan Lyall Priest

For services to Māori and conservation

Sue Priest, together with her husband Peter Priest, have served their communities of Whangamatā and Waitara for 25 years, often in the roles of Treasurer and Chair respectively for various organisations.

Rangimahora Mokomoko Reddy

For services to Māori health

Rangimahora Reddy (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Rangitāne) has has been the Chief Executive of Rauawaawa Kaumātua Charitable Trust (Rauawaawa) since 2010, a culturally focused charity providing health and wellbeing, housing, welfare, education and recreational services for Kaumātua.

Neta Kerepeti

For services to survivors of abuse in care

Neta Kerepeti (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngātiwai, Ngāti Mutunga) has worked with survivors of abuse in care to focus on their healing journeys, utilising the arts, toi Māori, and other creative pathways to generate awareness of survivor voices and stories.

Kath Coster

For services to survivors of abuse in care

Kath Coster (Rangitāne, Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Apa) has been advocating for survivors of abuse for several decades and has been a member and board representative of the New Zealand Collective of Abused in State Care Charitable Trust (NZCAST) since its establishment in 2020.

Hanz Freller

For services to survivors of abuse in care

Hanz Freller (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu) published the memoir ‘Walking on Glass: Finding Strength in a Broken World’ (2019) on his childhood and adolescent experiences in faith-based care institutions.

Toni Jarvis

For services to survivors of abuse in care

Toni Jarvis (Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngā Puhi) has engaged with Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry of Social Development and other agencies to bring awareness to issues relating to abuse in care and has used his survivor experience to make submissions to relevant agencies.

Craig Wells

For services to business and the community

Craig Wells (Ngāti Kahu, Te Rarawa, Ngāi Takoto, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kuri, Ngāpuhi) has contributed to his community through numerous governance and leadership roles with community, business and iwi organisations.

Eugene Ryder

For services to survivors of abuse in care

Eugene Ryder (Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Awa, Tūwharetoa ki Kawerau) has been a long-term advocate and prominent spokesperson for Māori survivors of abuse and has used his personal experience, including his experience as a former gang member, to support other survivors.