Only one South Taranaki person has been honoured in the New Year's Honours list. Bonita Bigham, of Ngāruahine and Te Ātiawa, from Manaia was awarded a King's Service medal for her contribution to local government and to Māori. She had served nine years on the South Taranaki Dis­trict Coun­cil along with three years on the Taranaki Coastal Com­munity Board, before being first elec­ted to the Taranaki Regional Coun­cil in 2022. In 2021, she was appoin­ted a Local Gov­ern­ment Com­mis­sioner, and she had served on vari­ous Local Gov­ern­ment New Zea­l­and com­mit­tees. Then from 2016 to 2024, she chaired Te Maru­ata, the col­lect­ive of Māori elec­ted and appoin­ted mem­bers. Her experience in governance included being a Ngāti Tāwhirikura hapū trustee, Waiok­ura Marae trustee and Ngāti Tū hapū chair, and she also was on Ngāruahine’s pre- and post-treaty set­tle­ment entit­ies. Boniat spent time on Te Puna, Tau­mata Arowai’s Māori advis­ory com­mit­tee, and chaired Lot­ter­ies Oranga Marae. Other areas she has been involved include being appoin­ted to the Taranaki/ Whan­ganui Con­ser­va­tion Board, New Zea­l­and Geo­graphic Board and Toi Aotearoa Cre­at­ive New Zea­l­and’s Arts Coun­cil. She also rep­res­en­ted Aotearoa New Zea­l­and as a co-head of del­eg­a­tion at the 13th Fest­ival of the Pacific Arts and Cul­ture in Hawai’i in 2024