Maire Leadbeater (née Locke, born 19 October 1945), is a New Zealand

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

and peace activist, writer, and former social worker. Leadbeater played a leading role in the New Zealand branch of the

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...

and has also advocated on human rights issues relating to East Timor, the Philippines, and Indonesia. She also served as a councillor on the

Auckland City Council Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...

and

Auckland Regional Council The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) was the regional council (one of the former local government authorities) of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority (ARA) was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989. The AR ...

Family

Leadbeater is the daughter of Jack and

Elsie Locke Elsie Violet Locke (née Farrelly; 17 August 1912 – 8 April 2001) was a New Zealand communist writer, historian, and leading activist in the feminism and peace movements. Also available to subscribers at Oxford Reference Online'. Probably bes ...

, and has two siblings;

Keith Locke Keith James Locke (born 1944) is a former New Zealand member of parliament who represented the Green Party, being first elected to parliament in 1999 and retiring from parliament at the 2011 election. He was the Green Party spokesperson on Fo ...

and Alison Locke.

Local government career

She was also a councillor in the

and the

, who campaigned under the centre-left ticket body

City Vision City Vision is a centre-left coalition of two political parties, the New Zealand Labour Party and the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, and community independents who contest Auckland Council (and previously Auckland City and Auckland Regi ...

Activism

During the 1980s and 1990s, Leadbeater served as the media spokesperson for the New Zealand

, which successfully campaigned for a

New Zealand nuclear-free zone In 1984, Prime Minister David Lange banned nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships from using New Zealand ports or entering New Zealand waters. Under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987, territorial sea, la ...

and a ban on visits by nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered ships. She was also involved in various other human rights groups including the Auckland East Timor Independence Committee, the Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa and the Indonesia Human Rights Committee. Her family's left-wing activities made her the target of surveillance by the

New Zealand Security Intelligence Service The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS or SIS; mi, Te Pā Whakamarumaru) is New Zealand's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for providing information and advising on matters including national security (incl ...

, the country's main domestic intelligence agency.

Writings

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leadbeater, Maire Auckland City Councillors Living people New Zealand anti-war activists New Zealand anti–nuclear weapons activists New Zealand left-wing activists New Zealand women activists People from Auckland Auckland regional councillors 1945 births