Susan Margaret Piper (born 1951) is a retired New Zealand trade unionist and local politician.

Biography

Piper was born in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

in 1951. Her parents were Leon Bremmer "Pip" Piper and Margaret Neilson "Tilly" Hunter, both were trade unionists and active members of the

Communist Party of New Zealand The Communist Party of New Zealand (CPNZ) was a communist party in New Zealand which existed from 1921 to 1994. Although spurred to life by events in Soviet Russia in the aftermath of World War I, the party had roots in pre-existing revolutiona ...

(CPNZ). As a child Piper and her brother Michael told anyone who would listen that they were communists and accordingly "they expected to share everything we thersowned." Her mother Tilly divorced her father and remarried in 1959. Tilly had left the CPNZ and joined the Labour Party. Years later from 1993 to 2008 Tilly was Labour MP

Annette King Dame Annette Faye King (née Robinson, born 13 September 1947) is a former New Zealand politician. She served as Deputy Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party and Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 2008 to 2011, and from 2014 until 1 March ...

's electorate secretary for the and then the electorates, despite not initially supporting King for the Labour nomination, regarding her as a right-winger. Tilly was an unsuccessful Labour candidate for the

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 ...

in both

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

and

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

. She was later awarded a Queen's Service Medal for public services at the 2001 New Year Honours. Her father Pip was also an unsuccessful Labour candidate for the Wellington City Council in both

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

and

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

in the Northern Ward. Piper was involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement and became a member of the Labour Party herself. In

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

she stood as a Labour candidate for the

, but was unsuccessful. She was on the organising committee of the 1975 United Women's Convention, working alongside leading feminist organisers such as Ros Noonan, Deidre Milne and

Margaret Shields Dame Margaret Kerslake Shields (née Porter, 18 December 1941 – 29 May 2013) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. She had three terms in the House of Representatives in the 1980s and was afterwards a member of the Greater Wellin ...

. Piper worked in a number of unions, including the Clerical Workers Union, the Early Childhood Workers Union and the

Public Service Association The Public Service Association ( mi, Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi) or PSA is a democratic trade union that represents over workers in the Aotearoa New Zealand public sector. The aims of the PSA are: * strong public and community services * ...

(PSA), where she was an executive officer from 1982 to 1987. In 1988 she stood for president of the PSA and won with 56,027 votes to 36,790 for PSA vice-president Colin Feslier. She was the first woman to hold the position. She contemplated standing for the Labour Party in the

1992 Wellington Central by-election The 1992 Wellington Central by-election was a by-election held in the electorate during the 43rd New Zealand Parliament, on 12 December 1992. It was caused by the resignation of incumbent MP Fran Wilde after her election as mayor of Wellington ...

. Piper was elected a member of the

from 1995 to 2004. In her first term as a councillor she was appointed as chairman of the council's community, culture and recreation committee after the resignation of John Gilberthorpe after his appointment as executive director of the Wellington Museums Trust. After being re-elected in 1998 she became the leader of the Labour members on the council and was a contender for the job of deputy mayor. She was chair of the Local Government Commission for six years, and chair of Sport Wellington. She has been president of Croquet New Zealand and served on the board of

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piper, Sue 1951 births Living people People from Wellington City New Zealand Labour Party politicians Wellington City Councillors People associated with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa New Zealand trade unionists New Zealand sports executives and administrators