An international relations specialist says new Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s moko kauae will be an asset for her diplomacy.

UK newspapers headlined her moko, and one New Zealand author earned a backlash for her Twitter comment that facial tattoos are not a polished, civilised presentation for a foreign diplomat.

But Associate Professor Stephen Hoadley from the University of Auckland says being the first Māori woman to hold the role, and the first with a moko kauae, sends a good signal internationally.

"It really shows New Zealand is also Aotearoa. It is a country of tolerance of many races and many ethnic groups. It has a special vocation for the Pacific Islands, hopefully the Treaty of Waitangi will see justice for Māori in the long term, and she symbolises all of those things. And I think people will be quite intrigued. They will say 'she is a bit unusual.' That is a real door opener, a conversation starter, and that can only be to her advantage," he says.

Stephen Hoadley expects under Ms Mahuta and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern the relationship with the United States will improve, and the changed stance to the Pacific started by her predecessor Winston Peters will continue.

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