Shipley appointed chair of Waitangi National Trust

Dame Jenny Shipley, Prime Minister from 1997 to 1999, has been appointed chair of the Waitangi National Trust, which oversees the Treaty Grounds where the Treaty of Waitanai was signed in 1840. She replaces Tania Simpson. The Trust plays a central role in managing Crown-Māori relations at New Zealand's most symbolically important site. The reasons behind her appointment have not been publicly explained.