Hima Douglas

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Hima Ikimotu Douglas, also known as Hima Takelesi, is a Niuean broadcaster, diplomat, and politician. He has been the Speaker of the Niue Assembly since 2020. He previously served as Niue’s High Commissioner to New Zealand from 2001 to 2004. Douglas was elected to the Niue Assembly in 1999 and again from 2005 to 2008. He chaired the Public Accounts Committee during his time in the Assembly.

Douglas studied accounting in New Zealand and was close to earning a pilot’s license. He owned Matavai Resort, Niue’s only hotel. He began working for the Niue government in 1968 and became assistant treasurer in the Treasury in 1975. He contributed to Tohi Tala Niue, a weekly newsletter, in the 1970s. He worked as a radio broadcaster and led the Broadcasting Corporation of Niue. In 1975 he joined the South Pacific Commission as an Educational Broadcasts Officer and was based in Suva. He was the director of the University of the South Pacific’s branch in Niue.

After Cyclone Heta damaged Niue, Douglas called on the 20,000 Niueans living in New Zealand to return home to help rebuild, noting they could still receive their pensions if they moved back.

He returned to the Assembly in 2005 but lost reelection in 2008 to Togia Sioneholo.