Rachel Elizabeth Boyack-Mayer is a New Zealand unionist and politician. Since 2020, she has been a Member of Parliament for the Labour Party.
Rachel Boyack | |
|---|---|
 Boyack in 2023 | |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Nelson | |
| Assumed office 17 October 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Nick Smith |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1979 or 1980 (age 43–44)[1] |
| Political party | Labour |
| Residence | Nelson |
Early life and career
editBoyack was born in Timaru and grew up in Palmerston North, having moved there aged nine.[2] She attended Ross Intermediate with future MPs Tangi Utikere and Tim Costley and went on to Palmerston North Girls' High School.[2][3] Her father, Jonathan Boyack, was a public health administrator who worked as an area health board chief executive and later moved to Birmingham where he was a hospital trust chief executive. Her parents separated in the 1990s and she was raised by her mother, a church organist.[4][5] Her maternal grandfather, Alan Earl, was considered for the National Party candidacy in Wairarapa but was reportedly passed over due to his opposition to the 1981 Springbok rugby union tour.[5]
Boyack earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Auckland and was a member of the National Youth Choir.[6] She married Scott Mayer, an accountant, and the couple moved to Nelson, where Boyack was assistant director of music at Christ Church Cathedral.[7]
For three years, Boyack was the student union president for Saniti, the student union for Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.[8][9] Following that, from about 2012 onward, she was the Nelson organiser of First Union.[8] Her activities included protesting low wages at supermarkets,[10] clashing with the mayor of Nelson, Rachel Reese,[11] and opposing the closure of a bank's branch in Stoke.[12][13] In 2018 she was appointed to the board of governors of the Nelson Environment Centre and was also on the board of the Nelson Women's and Children's Refuge.[14]
Political career
edit| Years | Term | Electorate | List | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–2023 | 53rd | Nelson | 57 | Labour | |
| 2023–present | 54th | Nelson | 42 | Labour | |
Boyack has been a member of the Labour Party since 2005.[8] She was selected as its candidate for the Nelson electorate in January 2017,[15] having expressed an interest in doing so in 2015.[8] The Nelson electorate had been held by National Party MP Nick Smith since 1996. She was also placed on the Labour party list at 48th place.[16] She finished runner-up, but lowered Smith's majority by 3000 votes.[17]
She was selected to stand in Nelson for Labour again in 2020.[14] In the 2020 general election, she was elected to the Nelson seat by a final margin of 4,525 votes, ousting the incumbent Smith.[18][19]
In her first term as a Member of Parliament, Boyack served as deputy chair of the governance and administration committee and deputy chair of the petitions committee.[20] She sang a hymn at the conclusion of her maiden statement on 10 February 2021.[5] Her private member's bill, the Plain Language Bill, was debated a first time in October 2021.[21] The bill proposed requiring public agencies to appoint plain language officers in a bid to make public facing government documentation more comprehensible. The bill was opposed by the opposition National Party, who attempted a filibuster,[22] but passed into law in October 2022.[23] Boyack also oversaw the passage of a private bill modernising the governance arrangements of the Cawthron Institute.[24]
Official results for the 2023 New Zealand general election, as of 3 November 2023, showed Boyack retaining the Nelson seat by 29 votes over National's candidate Blair Cameron.[25] On 8 November, the National Party sought a judicial recount in the Nelson electorate.[26][27] On 10 November, the Electoral Commission confirmed that Boyack had won Nelson by a margin of 26 votes, three votes fewer than the final vote results.[28]
In late November 2023, Boyack became spokesperson for the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), arts, culture and heritage, and animal welfare in the Shadow Cabinet of Chris Hipkins.[29]
References
edit- ^ "Rachel Boyack". Policy.nz. 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ a b "Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Amendment Bill — Third Reading". www.parliament.nz. 31 August 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ "Address in Reply Debate". www.parliament.nz. 6 December 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ "Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Amendment Bill — Second Reading". www.parliament.nz. 30 January 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ a b c "Maiden Statement - New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ Sivignon, Cherie (11 November 2019). "Rachel Boyack returns as Labour Party candidate in Nelson for 2020". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ Leov, Tasha (31 May 2016). "Nelson Cathedral invite youth to be choristers". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
- ^ a b c d Knott, Stacey (14 April 2015). "Nelson union rep Rachel Boyack considering running for Labour". Nelson Mail. Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
- ^ Roberts, Adam (24 March 2011). "Students hit by hardship". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
- ^ "Union reps arrested at Nelson supermarket protests". Stuff.co.nz. 13 February 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
- ^ Long, Jessica (13 December 2016). "Online political clash 'out of hand' over Easter trading policy". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
- ^ Leov, Tasha (19 August 2016). "Nelson residents upset over proposed Westpac closures". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
- ^ Carson, Jonathan (22 September 2016). "Closure of Westpac's Stoke branch 'extreme arrogance', Grey Power says". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
- ^ a b Sivignon, Cherie (12 November 2019). "Rachel Boyack returns as Labour Party candidate in Nelson for 2020". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
- ^ Anderson, Charles (20 January 2017). "Rachel Boyack selected as Labour Party candidate for Nelson". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
- ^ "Revised Labour Party List for the 2017 Election". Scoop.co.nz. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
- ^ Anderson, Charles (14 November 2019). "Boyack to challenge Smith again at elections". Nelson Weekly. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ "Nelson – Official Result". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
- ^ "Election 2020: Nick Smith concedes seat in Nelson to Labour". Stuff. 17 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
- ^ "Boyack, Rachel - New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. 30 January 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ "Plain Language Bill — First Reading Summary - New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. 30 January 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ "Plain language? Forsooth, forfend!". RNZ. 23 September 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ Sivignon, Cherie (22 October 2022). "Nelson MP Rachel Boyack's Plain Language Bill passes into law". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ "Cawthron Bill passes to allow iwi representation at board level | Nelson App". nelsonapp.co.nz. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ Ridout, Amy (3 November 2023). "Special votes swing Nelson back Labour's way by 29 votes but recount looms". Stuff. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
- ^ Perry, James (8 November 2023). "Judicial recounts confirmed in three electorates". Te Ao Māori News. Māori Television. Archived from the original on 8 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ Dexter, Giles (8 November 2023). "District Court confirms judicial recounts for Nelson, Mt Albert, Tāmaki Makaurau". Radio New Zealand. Archived from the original on 8 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ "Labour's Rachel Boyack confirms 26-vote win in Nelson recount". Radio New Zealand. 10 November 2023. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
- ^ "Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins reveals new shadow Cabinet". Radio New Zealand. 30 November 2023. Archived from the original on 11 December 2023. Retrieved 15 December 2023.