Hima Douglas

Hima Ikimotu Douglas or Hima Takelesi is a Niuean broadcaster, diplomat, and politician who has served as the Speaker of the Niue Assembly since 2020. Douglas was High Commissioner of Niue to New Zealand from 2001 to 2004.

Hima Douglas
Speaker of the Niue Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 2020
Preceded by	Togiavalu Pihigia
1st High Commissioner of Niue to New Zealand
In office 2001–2004
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Sisilia Talagi
Member of the Niue Assembly
In office 1999–2001
In office 2005–2008
Succeeded by	Togia Sioneholo

Early life and education

Hima Ikimotu Douglas graduated from an university in New Zealand with a degree in accounting and was only a few flying hours away from receiving a pilot's license.^[1] He was the owner of Matavai Resort, the only hotel in Niue.^[2]

Career

The government of Niue first employed Douglas in 1968, and was appointed assistant treasurer in the Treasury Department in 1975. He contributed to Tohi Tala Niue, a weekly newsletter, in the 1970s.^[3] Douglas worked as a radio broadcaster and led the Broadcasting Corporation of Niue.^[1] In 1975, he joined the South Pacific Commission as an Educational Broadcasts Officer and was based in Suva.^[3] He was the director of the University of the South Pacific's branch in Niue.^[1]

In the 1999 election Douglas was elected to the Niue Assembly.^[4] He resigned from the assembly in order to become High Commissioner of Niue to New Zealand, which he served as from 2001 to 2004.^[1][5] After Cyclone Heta damanged Niue Douglas called for the 20,000 Niueans in New Zealand to return to Niue to help rebuild and noted that they could still receive their pensions if they moved.^[6]

Douglas returned to the assembly in the 2005 election, but lost reelection to the assembly to Togia Sioneholo in 2008.^[7] During Douglas' tenure in the assembly he served as chair of the Public Accounts committee.^[8] In 2020, he became speaker of the assembly after defeating incumbent Togiavalu Pihigia by a vote of 11 to 9 in the third round of voting.^[9]