Originally from Maiana, Areieta married Matereti from Onotoa and the couple moved to Bairiki.
[1] He began work in the civil service in 1963 and became editor of the Colony Information Notes weekly newsheet,[2] In 1966 he was seconded to the Public Relations Office of the Fijian government for a short spell.
[1] He became an assistant broadcasting officer for Radio Tarawa and attended a BBC producers course in the UK.
[3] In 1971 he was elected to the Legislative Council of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands and was appointed Member for Social Services.
Although he was re-elected again in 1978, Ratieta lost the election for Chief Minister and Areieta was left out of the new cabinet.