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Maryan Street

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The Honourable
Maryan Street
MNZM
Street in 2012
22nd Minister of Housing
In office
31 October 2007 – 19 November 2008
Prime MinisterHelen Clark
Preceded byChris Carter
Succeeded byPhil Heatley
8th Minister for ACC
In office
31 October 2007 – 19 November 2008
Prime MinisterHelen Clark
Preceded byRuth Dyson
Succeeded byNick Smith
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Labour Party List
In office
17 September 2005 – 20 September 2014
29th President of the Labour Party
In office
1993–1995
Preceded byRuth Dyson
Succeeded byMichael Hirschfeld
Personal details
Born (1955-04-05) 5 April 1955 (age 69)
New Plymouth, New Zealand
Political partyLabour Party

Maryan Street MNZM (born 5 April 1955) is a New Zealand unionist, academic and former politician. She was president of the New Zealand Labour Party from 1993 to 1995 and a Labour Party list member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2005 until 2014.

For the final year of the Fifth Labour Government, Street held the offices of Minister of Housing and Minister for the Accident Compensation Corporation. She was the first openly lesbian MP elected to the New Zealand Parliament.[1]

Early life and career

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Street was born and raised in New Plymouth. In her youth, she intended to become a Presbyterian minister[2] but instead studied English literature and comparative religion at Victoria University of Wellington, receiving a BA (Hons) in 1976.[3][4] She thereafter trained as a teacher and taught at Westlake Girls High School. It was through teaching that she became involved in unionism, joining the Post-Primary Teachers' Association which she chaired from 1981 to 1983.[5][6]

She joined the New Zealand Labour Party in 1984, and was the party's senior vice president from 1991 to 1993 and president from 1993 to 1995.[5] She succeeded Margaret Wilson and Ruth Dyson as the third female Labour Party president; all three would together serve as Members of Parliament between 2005 and 2008. Street's term as president included the 1993 general election and subsequent Labour leadership change from Mike Moore to Helen Clark. Despite the president's obligation to support the leader, Street gave a radio interview in November 1993 that, in her view, Moore should no longer be the leader. She justified this by saying she thought her statement was made in the best interests of the party.[7] Street wrote to Moore asking him to step down voluntarily, but he refused.[8]

In 1990, Street was appointed senior lecturer in management relations and director of labour studies at Auckland University.[9] She gained a Master of Philosophy in industrial relations from Auckland in 1993 and began, but did not complete, a PhD on worker participation.[10] After leaving the university in 1999 she worked as the employment relations manager for District Health Boards New Zealand, an incorporated society established to coordinate advocacy efforts for the country's district health boards,[11] and also served on the boards of government agencies Housing New Zealand and the Crown Forestry Rental Trust (an agency involved in the Treaty settlements process) from 2000 to 2005.[5][6]

Member of Parliament

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New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2005–2008 48th List 36 Labour
2008–2011 49th List 9 Labour
2011–2014 50th List 7 Labour

Street was named as a potential future candidate for Labour in September 2004[12] and confirmed that November as a candidate for the 2005 general election.[13] In May 2005, she was selected to contest the National Party stronghold of Taranaki-King Country, which she lost to the incumbent Shane Ardern in the September election.[14][15] Ranked thirty-sixth on the party list, the second highest position given by Labour in 2005 to a person who was not already a member of Parliament, Street was elected to parliament as a list MP.

In her 16 November 2005 maiden statement, Street set out a human rights agenda. She said she stood for public office to campaign for social justice and believed human rights were at the core of democracy. “I have not come into this House to be less than brave about the human rights of those whom some would seek to marginalise. I seek an inclusive, just, and tolerant society as one that is more likely to be peaceful, productive, and safe for our children to grow up in. A pluralist society is stable because of its differences, not despite them. It is the very differences between people, working together peacefully and with respect for each other, that allow a society to remain strong and cohesive.”[10]

As a first-term MP with previous political experience, Street was immediately marked as a future minister.[16][17] She was deputy chair of the health committee, and also sat on the commerce and regulatory review committees, from 2005 until 2007, when she was appointed a Cabinet minister in the Fifth Labour Government. Between 31 October 2007 and 19 November 2008 she served as Minister of Housing, Minister for the Accident Compensation Corporation, Associate Minister of Tertiary Education, and Associate Minister of Economic Development.[5][6] She was regarded as a competent minister by columnist John Armstrong[18] and progressed legislation intended to improve affordable housing availability and to support pensioners to access vocational rehabilitation schemes.[19][20]

In the 2008 and 2011 general elections, Street contested the Nelson electorate, where she was defeated by National Party incumbent Nick Smith. She was returned each time for her second and third terms as a list MP. With Labour in opposition after the 2008 election, Street was the party's spokesperson for tertiary education, trade, Treaty of Waitangi negotiations and foreign affairs in the 49th New Zealand Parliament and for health, the environment, disarmament and arms control, and state services in the 50th Parliament. She sat on the parliamentary committees for education, foreign affairs, health, and justice between 2008 and 2014, and chaired the regulations review committee from February 2013 to August 2014.[6]

As a government backbencher and opposition MP, Street championed law changes to address tenants’ insurance rights,[21][22] ethical investment,[23] banning the importation of goods made by slave labour,[24] and the right to die with dignity,[25] though none were enacted. She has also been a lead supporter of legislated human rights for the LGBTQI communities. Street advocated on behalf of political prisoners and refugees from Myanmar. In 2010, she put a motion before the New Zealand Parliament to affirm the commitment to human rights for political prisoners in Myanmar and visited Myanmar in November 2012 to observe the rollout of the Gavi vaccination programme.[26][27] Street supported the professional development of young leaders from Myanmar and participated in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Myanmar Young Leaders Programme.[28]

Street supported Grant Robertson in the 2013 Labour Party leadership election.[29] She was defeated for a third time in Nelson at the 2014 general election. Despite her relatively high place of 15th on the Labour Party list, the party's poor performance under leader David Cunliffe meant she was not returned as a list MP.[30] She declined the opportunity to return as a list MP in 2017 and did not contest the 2017 general election.[31]

International work and later career

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Street worked as an international observer of general elections across Africa and Asia, mostly on behalf of the Commonwealth, with a focus on human rights and good governance. She has observed elections in Lesotho (2007 and 2015), Sierra Leone (2018), and the Maldives (2019).[32][33][34][35]

After leaving Parliament, Street continued to maintain a high profile as a campaigner for euthanasia, other human rights causes and employment relations. She has worked for KiwiRail as employment relations manager from 2015 to 2022.[2][36] She was appointed to the Victoria University of Wellington council for a four-year term from 2021[37] and to the KiwiRail board in July 2022 for a three-year term.[38]

Awards and honours

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Street (left), after her investiture as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit by the governor-general, Dame Cindy Kiro, at Government House, Wellington, on 23 May 2024

Street was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal for service to New Zealand in 1990 and the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal for service to women in 1993.[39] In the 2024 New Year Honours, Street was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services as a member of Parliament and to human and democratic rights.[40]

References

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  1. ^ "20 Years On – Homosexual Law Reform Conference" (PDF). Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand. p. 7.
  2. ^ a b "National Portrait: Maryan Street, the campaigner". www.stuff.co.nz. 4 November 2016.
  3. ^ "National Committee". VESNZ. 26 September 2023. Archived from the original on 19 March 2024. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  4. ^ "Interview with Maryan Street". Interview with Maryan Street. 4 November 1999. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d Trevett, Claire (31 October 2007). "The reshuffle: Street picks up the weighty portfolios". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d "Street, Maryan". New Zealand Parliament. 7 October 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  7. ^ Gomibuchi, Seishi (2000). Followers and leadership durability: An analysis of leadership support in the New Zealand Labour Party, 1990–1996 (Doctor of Philosophy thesis). University of Canterbury. Political Science. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  8. ^ Franks, Peter; McAloon, Jim (2016). Labour: the New Zealand Labour Party, 1916–2016. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 978-1-77656-074-5.
  9. ^ "Collection: Maryan Street trade union papers". Manuscripts and Archives. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  10. ^ a b "Street, Maryan: Address in Reply". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 16 November 2005. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  11. ^ "Official Information (Openness of District Health Boards New Zealand) Amendment Bill". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 6 September 2006. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  12. ^ "Fisheries chief keen on Labour list spot". The New Zealand Herald. 23 September 2004. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  13. ^ Berry, Ruth (28 November 2004). "Fisheries man wins top Labour list spot". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  14. ^ Wetton, Krysti (14 May 2005). "Ex-Labour president to stand in Taranaki". Taranaki Daily News. p. 4.
  15. ^ "Official Count Results – Electorate Status". New Zealand Election Results. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  16. ^ Small, Vernon (1 November 2007). "Cunliffe leap biggest risk in Clark's reshuffle". The Dominion Post. p. B5.
  17. ^ "Dover Samuels tipped as next minister to go". The New Zealand Herald. 8 February 2007. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  18. ^ Armstrong, John (28 May 2008). "Cabinet's fresh faces survive sour week in politics". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  19. ^ "Older workers to benefit from ACC law change | Beehive.govt.nz". www.beehive.govt.nz. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  20. ^ "Bill paves way for more affordable housing | Beehive.govt.nz". www.beehive.govt.nz. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  21. ^ "Tenants to be protected from liability under bill". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  22. ^ "Residential Tenancies (Damage Insurance) Amendment Bill – New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  23. ^ "Ethical Investment (Crown Financial Institutions) Bill — First Reading – New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  24. ^ New Zealand Labour Party (22 July 2009). "Another nail in the coffin of slave labour". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  25. ^ "National Portrait: Maryan Street, the campaigner". Stuff. 4 November 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  26. ^ "Street, Maryan: Motions — Burma—Human Rights". New Zealand Parliament.
  27. ^ "Burma today". www.magic.co.nz.
  28. ^ "Evaluation report" (PDF). www.mfat.govt.nz. 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  29. ^ Roberts, Adam (15 September 2013). "MPs get behind new leader". Stuff. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  30. ^ Trevett, Claire; Cheng, Derek (20 September 2014). "The hisTORY boy: John Key's 3rd term". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  31. ^ Wong, Simon (21 February 2017). "Maryan Street refuses a return to Parliament". Newshub. Archived from the original on 21 February 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  32. ^ "Lesotho: Final Report, General Elections, Commonwealth (2007)". aceproject.org.
  33. ^ "Lesotho Election 2015: Commonwealth Observer Group Arrival Statement". The Commonwealth.
  34. ^ "Observer group's report on Sierra Leone's elections released". The Commonwealth.
  35. ^ "Observers gear up for Maldives' 2019 parliamentary election". The Commonwealth.
  36. ^ "KiwiRail's Evolution: Annual Integrated Report 2019" (PDF). 2019. p. 28.
  37. ^ "News". Victoria University of Wellington. 10 May 2023. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  38. ^ "KiwiRail Holdings Limited | The Treasury New Zealand". www.treasury.govt.nz. 20 December 2022. Archived from the original on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  39. ^ "The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 – register of recipients". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  40. ^ "New Year Honours 2024: the full list". The New Zealand Herald. 30 December 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
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Party political offices
Preceded by President of the Labour Party
1993–1995 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Housing
2007–2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for ACC
2007–2008 		Succeeded by
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