Name William Heather | Role Politician | |
William Kati (Smiley) Heather (born 7 July 1958) is a Cook Islands politician and former Cabinet Minister. He represents the seat of Ruaau in the Cook Islands Parliament and is Deputy Leader of the Cook Islands Democratic Party.
Heather was born in Rarotonga and educated at Arorangi Primary school and Tereora College in the Cook Islands and Onslow College in Wellington, New Zealand. From 1980 to 1997 Heather played for the Cook Islands national rugby union team. He worked as a public servant in the Cook Islands Ministry of Works before being elected to Parliament as a member of the Democratic Party in the 2006 snap election. Following the election, he was appointed Democratic Party whip.
In December 2009 he was appointed to Cabinet as Minister for Transport, Infrastructure & Planning, and Energy. following the sacking of Terepai Maoate and resignation of Democratic party cabinet ministers. As a result, he was expelled from the Democratic Party on 8 April 2010.
He was re-elected at the 2010 election. In August 2012 he was elected Deputy Leader of the Democratic party.
In June 2017 he became leader of the opposition again.
Heather is the older brother of Cook Islands Party MP Teariki Heather.