Ruth Dyson

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The Honourable
Ruth Dyson
MP
portrait photo of a woman
Ruth Dyson in 2011
26th President of the Labour Party
In office
1988–1993
Leader David Lange
Geoffrey Palmer
Mike Moore
Preceded by Rex Jones
Succeeded by Maryan Street
Minister for Senior Citizens
In office
28 January 2003 – 19 November 2008
Prime Minister Helen Clark
Preceded by Lianne Dalziel
Succeeded by John Carter
Minister for ACC
In office
15 August 2002 – 5 November 2007
Prime Minister Helen Clark
Preceded by Lianne Dalziel
Succeeded by Maryan Street
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Lyttelton
In office
1993 – 1996
Preceded by Gail McIntosh
Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Labour party list
In office
1996 – 1999
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Banks Peninsula
In office
1999 – 2008
Preceded by David Carter
Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Majority 1,923 (4.78%)
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Port Hills
Assumed office
2008
Preceded by New constituency
Majority 3,452 (9.58%)
Personal details
Born (1957-08-11) 11 August 1957 (age 66)
Wellington
Nationality New Zealand
Political party Labour Party
Occupation Party official

Ruth Suzanne Dyson (born 11 August 1957) is a New Zealand politician. She is a member of the Labour Party and has been a Member of Parliament since 1993. Since the 2008 election, she has represented the Port Hills electorate.

Early years

Dyson was born in Lower Hutt. Her father served in the New Zealand Army, and so Dyson's family frequently moved around the country. Dyson joined the Labour Party in Westport in 1979, and worked as a campaign organiser for Labour MP Kerry Burke in the 1981 and 1984 election. In 1985, she moved to Wellington, where she worked with Labour MP Fran Wilde on the Homosexual Law Reform Bill. She worked for Wilde's re-election campaign in the 1987 election, and later held a number of senior offices in the Labour Party, including that of president.[1]

Member of Parliament

Parliament of New Zealand
Years Term Electorate List Party
1993–1996 44th Lyttelton Labour
1996–1999 45th List 19 Labour
1999–2002 46th Banks Peninsula 15 Labour
2002–2005 47th Banks Peninsula 22 Labour
2005–2008 48th Banks Peninsula 14 Labour
2008–2011 49th Port Hills 14 Labour
2011–2014 50th Port Hills 5 Labour
2014–present 51st Port Hills none Labour

Dyson first entered Parliament in the 1993 election, winning the Lyttelton electorate against National's David Carter.[2] In the 1996 election, the Lyttelton electorate was abolished, and Dyson stood in Banks Peninsula, losing to Carter, who had in the meantime become an MP through winning the 1994 Selwyn by-election. She became a list MP owing to her position on the Labour Party's list. In the 1999 election, however, she defeated Carter to win Banks Peninsula. She has remained the MP for the area since that time; however before the 2008 election the boundaries were changed and it was renamed Port Hills.

When the Labour Party won power in the 1999 general election, Dyson was appointed to a number of minor ministerial roles, including Disability Issues and Associate Health and Associate Social Development. However, she resigned them on 31 October 2000 after being caught drunk driving.[3] She regained most of her ministerial responsibilities on 4 June 2001.[4]

In a reshuffle on 31 October 2007, Dyson took on the portfolio of Social Development, which she held until the Clark government lost power at the 2008 general election. Despite the swing against Labour at that election, Dyson won her new electorate of Port Hills with an increased margin than that of Banks Peninsula.[5][6]

In December 2009 Dyson's Resource Management (Requiring Authorities) Amendment Bill, which would amend the Resource Management Act 1991 to reintroduce a public interest test for projects seeking requiring authority, was drawn from the member's ballot.[7] The bill was defeated at its first reading.[7]

Dyson was re-elected as the MP for Port Hills at the 2011 general election. She is currently the Labour spokesperson for Conservation, Senior Citizens, and Internal Affairs and chairs the Parliamentary Select Committee on Government Administration .[1] When Lianne Dalziel confirmed that she would contest the 2013 Christchurch mayoralty, her Christchurch Earthquake Recovery portfolio was split and assigned to Dyson and Clayton Cosgrove in July 2013.[8]

Dyson contested the 2014 election against Nuk Korako of the National Party; she elected to not be placed onto Labour's party list.[9] Based on preliminary counts, Dyson has a majority of 1,865 votes over Korako.[9]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Port Hills results 2008
  6. ↑ Decision 08: Port Hills
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by President of the Labour Party
1988–1993		 Succeeded by
Maryan Street
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Lyttelton
1993–1996		 Constituencies abolished
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Banks Peninsula
1999–2008
New constituency Member of Parliament for Port Hills
2008 – present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Minister for Senior Citizens
2003–2008		 Succeeded by
John Carter
Minister for ACC
2002–2007		 Succeeded by
Maryan Street
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