Marian Leslie Hobbs (born 18 December 1947) is a New Zealand politician who was a
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
Member of Parliament from 1996 to 2008. She was initially a list MP and then (from 1999) represented the electorate. She served as
Minister for the Environment and, later, as one of two
Assistant Speakers of the House of Representatives. She represented the Dunedin constituency of the
Otago Regional Council
Otago Regional Council (ORC) is the regional council for Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. The council's principal office is Regional House on Stafford Street in Dunedin with 250-275 staff, with smaller offices in Queenstown and Alexand ...
from 2019 to 2021.
Early life
Hobbs was raised in
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
and was educated at
St Dominic's College,
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
. Before entering politics, Hobbs worked as a teacher at Aranui High School and was the principal of
Avonside Girls' High School in Christchurch. She helped to establish the
Chippenham commune in Christchurch and is by religious affiliation a
Friend
Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague.
In some cultures, the concept of ...
(Quaker). In 1993, Hobbs was awarded the
New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal
The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 was established by Royal Warrant on 1 July 1993. It was created to commemorate Women's suffrage in New Zealand and to recognize those New Zealand and Commonwealth citizens who had made a significant ...
.
After leaving school, Hobbs renounced her Catholic beliefs, later becoming a Quaker. At university she was a student radical and joined the
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
. Hobbs marched with
HART
Hart often refers to:
* Hart (deer)
Hart may also refer to:
Organizations
* Hart Racing Engines, a former Formula One engine manufacturer
* Hart Skis, US ski manufacturer
* Hart Stores, a Canadian chain of department stores
* Hart's Reptile Wo ...
in the
1981 Springbok tour to oppose
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
. After the tour she developed a strong interest in
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
issues and became fluent in the language. In May 1996, she was offered the position of principal of
Wellington Girls' College
Wellington Girls' College was founded in 1883 in Wellington, New Zealand. At that time it was called Wellington Girls' High School. Wellington Girls' College is a year 9 to 13 state secondary school, located in Thorndon in central Wellington.
H ...
, but never ended up taking the job, instead moving into Parliament on the Labour list.
Member of Parliament
Hobbs stood unsuccessfully in the
1994 Selwyn by-election
The Selwyn by-election, a by-election in the New Zealand electorate of Selwyn – a predominantly rural district in the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand's South Island – took place on 13 August 1994. The previous sitting MP, Ruth Richardson ...
where she came a distant third.
She contested the electorate in the and came second to
National Party's
Doug Kidd
Sir Douglas Lorimer Kidd (born 12 September 1941) is a former New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1978 to 2002, representing the National Party. He served for three years as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Early life
Kidd was ...
, but entered Parliament via the
Labour list
LabourList is a British news website supportive of, but independent of, the Labour Party, launched in 2009. Describing itself as Labour's "biggest independent grassroots e-network", the site's content includes news, commentary, interviews, campa ...
, where she was ranked 12th.
In the
1999 election, Hobbs won the electorate, defeating the incumbent member,
ACT Party leader
Richard Prebble
Richard William Prebble (born 7 February 1948) is a former member of the New Zealand Parliament. Initially a member of the Labour Party, he joined the newly formed ACT New Zealand party under Roger Douglas in 1996, becoming its leader from 19 ...
.
Cabinet minister
After Labour's electoral victory in 1999, Hobbs joined the
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
, becoming Minister for the Environment, Minister of Biosecurity, Minister of Broadcasting, and Minister Responsible for the
National Library of New Zealand
The National Library of New Zealand ( mi, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (''Nat ...
and
Archives New Zealand
Archives New Zealand (Māori: ''Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga'') is New Zealand's national archive and the official guardian of its public archives. As the government's recordkeeping authority, it administers the Public Records Act 2005 and ...
. In February 2001, she briefly resigned from Cabinet while an enquiry investigated her allowance-claims; she returned in late March after receiving official clearance.
As Minister of Broadcasting, Hobbs set a code of practice for New Zealand commercial radio, specifying that 20 percent of music played should have New Zealand origins.
Following the
2002 general election, Hobbs continued as the Minister for the Environment and Minister Responsible for the National Library and Archives New Zealand, and picked up new roles as
Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control
The Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control is a minister (government), minister in the government of New Zealand.
The portfolio was established after the declaration of the New Zealand nuclear-free zone and passing of the New Zealand Nuclea ...
, Associate
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade with responsibility for Official Development Assistance, Associate Minister for Biosecurity, Associate Minister of Education, and Minister Responsible for Urban Affairs.
Resignation from Cabinet
In 2004, Hobbs told Prime Minister
Helen Clark
Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...
that she did not expect to seek a post in Cabinet again after the
2005 general election. Hobbs contested the election and was returned to the Wellington Central electorate with a 6,180 majority over the National Party candidate,
Mark Blumsky
Mark Herbert Blumsky (born 29 August 1957) is a former New Zealand politician and diplomat. He was Mayor of Wellington from 1995 to 2001, and a Member of Parliament for the National Party from 2005 to 2008. Blumsky was New Zealand's High Comm ...
. She made her decision about not seeking a Cabinet role public during the negotiations to form a government in October 2005.
After resigning from Cabinet, Hobbs served briefly as Labour's party Vice-President and became the Assistant
Speaker of the House
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...
in March 2008, after
Ann Hartley resigned.
In December 2006 Hobbs announced (during a radio interview) that she would not seek re-election at the
2008 general election, confirming much speculation to that effect. She was succeeded in Wellington Central by
Grant Robertson
Grant Murray Robertson (born 30 October 1971) is a New Zealand politician and member of the Labour Party who has served as the 19th deputy prime minister of New Zealand since 2020 and the minister of Finance since 2017. He has served as Membe ...
, who had worked for her while she was a minister.
Post-Parliamentary career
Before leaving Parliament, Hobbs signalled her intention to work as a teacher in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, in compensation for never having made a traditional working-holiday as a young woman. She spent two years as the Headteacher at
Prince William School
Prince William School is a secondary school and sixth form located in Oundle, Northamptonshire. The school was built in 1971 and opened by Prince William of Gloucester whose family home, Barnwell Manor, is a few miles away. Prince William wa ...
in
Oundle
Oundle () is a market town on the left bank of the River Nene in North Northamptonshire, England, which had a population of 5,735 at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. It is north of London and south-west of Peterborough ...
,
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by
two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
, United Kingdom.
Hobbs stood as a Labour candidate for the
Otago Regional Council
Otago Regional Council (ORC) is the regional council for Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. The council's principal office is Regional House on Stafford Street in Dunedin with 250-275 staff, with smaller offices in Queenstown and Alexand ...
at the
2019 local elections and was successful. On 23 October, she was elected as chair, with
Michael Laws
Michael Laws (born 1957) is a New Zealand politician, broadcaster and writer. Laws was a Member of Parliament for six years, starting in 1990, initially for the National Party. In Parliament he voted against his party on multiple occasions an ...
as her deputy. In a vote on 8 July 2020, she lost the role and was replaced by councillor Andrew Noone. She resigned from the council on 1 November 2021.
Personal life
Hobbs had one son, Daniel, with her first husband Walter Logeman. Her second marriage was to maths teacher Geoff Norris with whom she unexpectedly had a daughter, Claire.
Her father was Leslie Hobbs, a political journalist, who wrote ''The Thirty-Year Wonders'', a history of the
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
Second Labour Governments and their members.
See also
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobbs, Marian
1947 births
Living people
New Zealand communists
New Zealand Labour Party MPs
Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand
New Zealand Quakers
Women government ministers of New Zealand
New Zealand list MPs
People educated at Trinity Catholic College, Dunedin
New Zealand MPs for Wellington electorates
Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
21st-century New Zealand politicians
21st-century New Zealand women politicians
Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
Recipients of the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993
Otago regional councillors