The former speaker and MP for Te Tai Hauāuru Adrian Rurawhe has died.

A statement from his family noted "with deep sadness" he passed after a "recent illness."

"The whanau are slowly coming to terms with such a great loss. Not only to our whanau, but to his church Te Haahi Ratana, his Iwi of Ngāti Apa and Whanganui, and his former colleagues in the House of Representatives where he served as a Member of Parliament from 2014 to January 2026."

Rurawhe was first elected to Parliament in 2014 as the Labour MP for Te Tai Hauāuru and went on to serve four consecutive terms.

Over the course of his parliamentary career, he held several senior roles including Speaker of the House of Representatives from August 2022 to December 2023.

Rurawhe announced early this year he would retire from politics on Waitangi Day.

He said he'd spent the summer thinking about whānau and church, and retiring would allow him to be more involved.

Rurawhe was the grandson of two former MPs, Matiu and Iriaka Rātana, and the great-grandson of TW Rātana, the founder of the Rātana church.

Green Party co-leader and former colleague Chlöe Swarbrick told Morning Report on Wednesday Rurawhe was a "beautiful, beautiful man" who bought calm to the House of Parliament - a place that wasn't often calm.

Swabrick said he had a kindness and a "generosity of spirit" - however he was also robust with a "spine of steel" behind the scenes.

"That's a huge loss to our country," she said.

In Rurawhe's valedictory speech in January this year he said one of his biggest honours was to serve as Speaker - though admitted it was not a position he had ever imagined he would hold.

Rurawhe said he was originally offered the Assistant Speaker role in 2017, but opted for the Junior Whip position instead as he "wasn't too keen".

He then took up the role a few days later after Hipkins, then Leader of the House, rang him to say Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was asking him to reconsider.

"I'm thinking, pull that Jacinda card eh?"

Three years later, Ardern asked him to be Deputy Speaker, which after admitting his initial disappointment he did not have a ministerial role, was assured there was a pathway to that or to become Speaker.

"I pinch myself almost every day, wonder how this guy from Rātana Pā gets to be the Speaker of this House."

The statement from his family said Rurawhe would lie in state at Whangaehu Marae until his burial at Ngā Puketuurua Ratana Pa.