Rangitamoe Waaka was born in Rotorua and was educated at Horohore and Glenholme Primary Schools, Rotorua Intermediate and Rotorua Girls’ High School. She studied social work at Victoria University and graduated with a Diploma of Social Work in 1985 and an M.B.A. from Waikato University in 1995. She has worked as a manager, consultant, trainer and group facilitator. She is currently self employed as a consultant and is based in Rotorua. She writes non-fiction articles. Louise Waaka is currently the Assistant District Manager of the Department of Māori Affairs in Rotorua. In 1990 she was hired by the State Service commission to write a report on Māori and EEO in the public Sector.
Biographical sources
- Correspondence from Louise Waaka on 5 August 1998.
Non-fiction
- "EEO Māori in the Public Sector." State Services Commission, 1990. No further details.
- In this article Waaka discusses how well Māori employers had benefited from the Equal Employment Opportunities Polices in the public sector.
Papers/Presentations
- "Panel: Who is Accountable for What." Peter Rankin, Patricia Booth, Don Borrie, and Louise Waaka. Chaired by Marion Bruce. Devolution and Accountability: Studies in Public Administration, No. 34: Proceedings of the 1988 Conference of the New Zealand Institute of Public Administration. Ed. John Martin and Jim Harper. Wellington, N.Z.: GP, 1988. 92-103. Discussion 103-106.
- The text of the panel discussions at the 1988 Conference of the New Zealand Institute of Public Administration, where the theme of accountability in devolution was considered. In Waaka’s paper she asserts that there ‘can be no discussion on sharing power without addressing The Treaty of Waitangi, the document that defines the rights and powers of tangata whenua and the role of tauiwi.’ She notes too that even the guise of adopting a bicultural stance in some government departments does not always equate with power sharing.