Janet Elsdon Mackey (née Craig; born 14 June 1953) is a New Zealand politician. She was a Member of the

New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand ( King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by h ...

for the Labour Party from 1993 until 2005.

Early life and family

Mackey was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

on 14 June 1953, the daughter of Elsdon Walter Grant Craig and Zeta Harriet Craig (née Brown). Her father is a Scottish-New Zealander, and the nephew of

Elsdon Best Elsdon Best (30 June 1856 – 9 September 1931) was an ethnographer who made important contributions to the study of the Māori of New Zealand. Early years Elsdon Best was born 30 June 1856 at Tawa Flat, New Zealand, to William Best and the fo ...

, and her mother is from Northern Ireland. Mackey was educated at

Auckland Girls' Grammar School "Through trials to triumph" , colours = gold, navy blue , type = State single-sex girls' secondary school (Years 9–13) , established = 1878 , address = Howe Street, Newton, Auckland , coordinates = , principal = Ngaire Ashmore ...

from 1966 to 1969, and went on to study at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in English. Previously married, Mackey has three children, including

Moana Mackey Moana Lynore Mackey (born 28 February 1974) is a New Zealand politician and has represented the New Zealand Labour Party in the New Zealand Parliament from 2003 until 2014. She has Māori, Irish, Scottish and Spanish ancestry. Early life a ...

, who has also served as a Labour MP.

Parliamentary career

She was first elected to Parliament in the 1993 election, winning the seat of Gisborne. In the 1996 election, she won the newly created seat of Mahia, and in the

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and 2002 elections, she won the seat of

East Coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...

. In 2003, she was joined in Parliament by her daughter, Moana Mackey. Before entering politics, she was a

real estate agent A real estate agent or real estate broker is a person who represents sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and agen ...

. She announced her intent to retire before the 2005 election, and did not stand for re-election.

Other activities

Mackey served as a trustee of the Trust Bank Eastern and Central Community Trust, and from 1984 to 1990 was chair of the East Coast Regional Employment and Access Council. She was appointed as a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

in 1988, and became a marriage celebrant in 1989.

References

, - , - 1953 births Living people New Zealand Labour Party MPs People from Auckland New Zealand people of Irish descent New Zealand people of Scottish descent Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand real estate agents New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives 21st-century New Zealand politicians 21st-century New Zealand women politicians People educated at Auckland Girls' Grammar School University of Auckland alumni New Zealand justices of the peace {{NZLabour-politician-stub