Dun Mihaka

Dun Mihaka is a Maori activist and political candidate.

Mihaka has been involved in a number of campaigns regarding Maori rights, and was involved in the Bastion Point land dispute. He has written two books on Maori issues. He is most known, however, for baring his buttocks to the Queen on her royal tour in 1983 – this, known as whakapohane, was a traditional Maori insult.

He stood as an independent candidate for the Te Tai Hauauru parliamentary seat in the 1999 election, winning 1.03% of the vote. In 2004, he stood in the Te Tai Hauauru by-election, challenging the incumbent Tariana Turia. Mihaka stood as the candidate for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party, the only party other than Turia's Maori Party to contest the by-election. Mihaka claimed that the drugs issue was of greater importance to Maori than the foreshore and seabed controversy, which Turia largely focused on. In the by-election, Mihaka placed a distant second, winning 2.52% of the vote compared to Turia's 92.74%. He did, however, place above the four independent candidates.