Маргарет Уилсон: Биография новозеландского политика и юриста

New Zealand politician

Margaret Anne Wilson (born 20 May 1947) is a New Zealand lawyer, academic and former Labour Party politician. She served as Attorney General from 1999 to 2005 and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2005 to 2008, during the Fifth Labour Government.

Born in Gisborne, Wilson was raised in Morrinsville where her parents Bill and Patricia (Paddy) ran a small store. She was the eldest of four children. As a seven year old, she spent several months living in Auckland with her great aunt and great uncle after her father had a nervous breakdown. Wilson's family were Catholic and Labour voting; Bill's father's cousin was the Labor Party Premier of New South Wales, Bob Heffron. Wilson returned to Auckland to receive secondary education at St Dominic's College, and completed her final year as the only female student at Morrinsville College. She had a leg amputated due to cancer at the age of 16, which cut short her plans to be a physical education teacher. Instead, she studied law and graduated LLB(Honours) from the University of Auckland in 1970. Briefly, she worked as a law clerk and solicitor in Auckland from 1970 to 1972 (in 1971 she was secretary of the legal employees' union), before a master's in jurisprudence on workers' participation in management in New Zealand was completed in 1974. In her memoir, Wilson reports that only seven in her undergraduate class of 200 were women; her female classmates included future Chief Justice of New Zealand Sian Elias and future judge of the Hong Kong Court of First Instance Clare Marie Beeson. Future members of Parliament David Lange and Jim McLay were also in the cohort. In her memoir, Wilson reflected that future Prime Minister and her then University of Auckland colleague Helen Clark encouraged her candidacy. She contributed to the party's manifesto commitments on women's equality, which included the establishment of the Ministry for Women's Affairs, for the 1984 general election. It was suggested that Wilson stand for Parliament in 1987; she declined.

After nine years of a National led Government, including three years of testing coalition arrangements, Labour anticipated forming a government after the 1999 election. Wilson's former Auckland University colleague Helen Clark, now leader of the Labour Party, invited Wilson to stand for election on the Labour Party list, with a view to being the Attorney General should Labour successfully form a new government. She placed third behind New Zealand First leader Winston Peters and National candidate Katherine O'Regan in a close race. Wilson sought a judicial recount as since New Zealand First won less than five percent of the party vote they would have no seats in parliament in at all if Peters lost the electorate (allowing Labour to govern solely with the Alliance and not needing the Greens). Peters criticised the recount as a waste of money. The recount resulted in Peters' majority increasing by one vote from 62 to 63. As the ninth candidate on the Labour list, Wilson entered Parliament as a list MP and immediately gained election to the Cabinet. In addition to being appointed Attorney General, she was additionally made Minister of Labour, Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, and associate minister for justice and state services. In the justice portfolio, she had delegated responsibility for constitutional and electoral policy, human rights, privacy and the Māori–Crown relationship. Across her portfolios, Wilson had a strong focus on women's equality. She established the position of Equal Employment Opportunities commissioner at the Human Rights Commission and progressed reform to matrimonial property law. She also oversaw the replacement of the Employment Contracts Act 1991 with the Employment Relations Act 2000 and, as Attorney General, revived and completed previous governments' attempts to cease using the Privy Council as the New Zealand's court of last resort and establish an independent Supreme Court of New Zealand. Wilson remained a list MP after the 2002 election and, over the term, gained a more varied set of portfolios. She initially continued as Attorney General, Minister of Labour, Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and Associate Minister of Justice. She was Minister for Courts until May 2003, until that role was reassigned to Rick Barker with Wilson as the associate minister. In February 2004, Wilson became Minister of Commerce (Paul Swain picked up the labour portfolio) and in November 2004, Wilson became the first Minister for Building Issues.

In December 2004, the Government announced that it would nominate Wilson for the post of Speaker of the House of Representatives, a position which would become vacant with the pending retirement of Jonathan Hunt. Previous speculation had focused on Mark Burton, the Minister of Defence. In her memoir, Wilson recalled advising Prime Minister Helen Clark toward the end of 2004 that she could not see herself doing a third term as a minister and that she intended to retire at the 2005 election. On 21 June 2005, Wilson ejected the Prime Minister Helen Clark from Parliament's Chamber for interjecting while National's Nick Smith was speaking. Her style was noticeably different from her predecessor. In July 2006, National attempted a vote of no confidence in Wilson, after she refused to send a report on Labour MP Taito Phillip Field to the Privileges Committee, but Labour blocked the move. The most serious challenge to her authority as speaker came on 26 August 2008, when Act leader Rodney Hide initially refused her order to leave the debating chamber, saying, "I actually won't go now, Madam Speaker." She told him to "think carefully", but did not apply to have Hide named after he left. Wilson oversaw the launch of Parliament TV in July 2007. Wilson announced in February 2008 that she would not be standing for re election in 2008, and was considering academia rather than a diplomatic posting. She finished her role by closing the 48th Parliament. In the 2009 New Year Honours, Wilson was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, in recognition of her services as a Member of Parliament and as Speaker. Following the restoration of titular honours by the New Zealand government later in 2009, Wilson declined re designation as a Dame Companion.

Wilson strongly promotes various social causes such as feminism and multiculturalism, and opponents often painted her as Labour's most "politically correct" minister. She was the Minister responsible for the introduction of the new Supreme Court, which was controversial at the time, as well as changing the law on dividing property between partners after a separation, known now as relationship property law. Wilson, alongside Helen Kelly, were noted opponents of neoliberalism and tried to support the union movement whilst in Government. However, Wilson acknowledged that the Labour Relations Act 1987 was a "an awkward compromise" between neoliberal economic values, and the rights of organised labour. In September 2020 she was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor by the University of Waikato. Wilson published her memoir Activism, Feminism, Politics and Parliament in 2021.

Wilson, Margaret (1986) Working for Change In Clark, Margaret (ed). Beyond Expectations: fourteen New Zealand women write about their lives. Allen & Unwin. pp. 155–166. Wilson, Margaret (1989) Labour in government, 1984 1987. Allen and Unwin/Port Nicholson Press, Wellington. ISBN 9780046410490
Wilson, Margaret (2021) Activism, Feminism, Politics and Parliament. Bridget Williams Books, Wellington. ISBN 9781988587844