Mary Winifred Harris was the thirteenth

Clerk of the New Zealand House of Representatives The clerk of the New Zealand House of Representatives is an officer of the New Zealand House of Representatives and is the principal officer (chief executive) of the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Role The clerk of the ...

("Clerk of the House"). She was appointed Clerk of the House on 10 December 2007, following the resignation of David Graham McGee. She served as Clerk of the House for 7 years and 7 months before retiring on 5 July 2015. Mary Harris began her state sector career in 1979 when she was appointed to the Department of Statistics as an Assistant Investigating Officer. After promotion to the position of Senior Survey Officer, she was involved in the development and running of the Household Labour Force Survey. On 22 June 1987 she joined the Parliamentary Service (which from 1985 to 1988 had oversight of the Office of the Clerk of the House) as a Senior Committee Secretary and in 1990 was promoted to the senior management role of Clerk-Assistant, initially with responsibility for providing services to Select Committees and, from July 2000, managing Reporting Services (including ''

Hansard ''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official prin ...

'', broadcasting and te reo Māori interpretation). She was appointed to the office of Deputy Clerk on 11 February 2002, and in 2007 she became the first woman to be appointed Clerk of the New Zealand House of Representatives. Mary Harris has a Bachelor of Arts degree, with majors in both Music and Geography, from the

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 ...

. In the

2014 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

, she was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

in recognition of her services to Parliament.NZ Gazette 4 February 2014 Page 303
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Mary Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Clerks of the New Zealand House of Representatives Companions of the Queen's Service Order