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 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 hi ...

from 2003 until 2014. She has

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 ...

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

, Scottish and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

ancestry.

Early life and career

Born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, New Zealand and raised in Gisborne, Mackey attended Mangapapa Primary School, Ilminster Intermediate and

Lytton High School Lytton High School is a co-educational state secondary school in Gisborne, New Zealand for students in Years 9 to 13. History Gisborne High School was the first and only state secondary school in Gisborne between 1909 and 1955. It was a co-educ ...

. While in

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, Mackey would participate in Young Labour, the New Zealand Youth Orchestra and Youth Parliament. After leaving high school, she attended

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well kno ...

from 1993, graduating with a degree in

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

and

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

. Remaining in the Wellington area, she worked as a

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosoph ...

, leading a team at an environmental laboratory in Lower Hutt and from 2001 to 2004 was a member of the

Petone Community Board Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in Pe ...

. From 1999 to 2000, Moana Mackey served as President of Young Labour. She also worked in the

Trade Union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

movement.

Member of Parliament

Mackey entered Parliament on 29 July 2003 through the Labour party list after Graham Kelly vacated his list seat. Her mother,

Janet Mackey Janet Elsdon Mackey (née Craig; born 14 June 1953) is a New Zealand politician. She was a Member of the New Zealand Parliament for the Labour Party from 1993 until 2005. Early life and family Mackey was born in Auckland on 14 June 1953, the ...

, also sat as a Labour MP until 2005 – the two formed the first mother-daughter pair in New Zealand parliamentary history. In the election that year, Janet Mackey retired from politics, and Moana Mackey contested but lost the East Coast electorate seat (formerly held by her mother) to National Party candidate,

Anne Tolley Anne Merrilyn Tolley (née Hicks, born 1 March 1953) is a New Zealand politician and former member of the New Zealand House of Representatives representing the National Party. She was New Zealand's first female Minister of Education from 200 ...

by 1219 votes. However, she returned to Parliament as a List MP. Mackey unsuccessfully contested East Coast again in the 2008 general election, losing to National's Anne Tolley by 6,413 votes. Mackey again returned to Parliament as a list MP for the Labour Party. Mackey was not placed high enough on Labour's list to return to Parliament following the election to be allocated a seat following a drop in support for Labour. In February 2017, Labour list MP

Jacinda Ardern Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...

won the

2017 Mount Albert by-election The 2017 Mount Albert by-election was a New Zealand by-election held in the electorate on 25 February 2017 during the 51st New Zealand Parliament. The seat was vacated following the resignation of David Shearer, a former Leader of the New Ze ...

, which allowed the party to bring a new list MP to parliament. Mackey was the second-highest ranked Labour candidate not to enter parliament at the 2014 election. The person higher,

Maryan Street Maryan Street (born 5 April 1955) is a New Zealand unionist and former member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, having been elected to parliament in the 2005 general election as a member of the New Zealand Labour Party. She served ...

, announced she would decline the chance to return to Parliament. Mackey likewise declined the option to re-enter Parliament.

Post politics

Since 2015 Mackey has been employed in several advisory roles in

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

's city planning team.

Early life and career

Member of Parliament

Post politics

Notes

References

Further reading