Laila Harré

The Honourable
Laila Harré

Laila Harre in 2006
3rd Leader of the Alliance
In office
2002–2003
Deputy Willie Jackson
Preceded by Jim Anderton
Succeeded by Matt McCarten
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Alliance list
In office
1996 – 2002
Personal details
Born (1966-01-08) 8 January 1966
Citizenship New Zealander
Political party Internet Party (2014)
Other political
affiliations		 Labour (1982-89)
NewLabour Party (1989-91)
Alliance (1991–2003)
Spouse(s) Barry Gribben
Children 2
Alma mater University of Auckland

Laila Jane Harré (born 8 January 1966) is a New Zealand politician and trade unionist. She was the first leader of the Internet Party,[1] and stood for Parliament in the 2014 general election through the Helensville electorate. From 1996 to 2002 she was a Member of Parliament for the Alliance party, briefly leading that party after the group experienced a schism in 2002.

Early life

Harré's father was a social anthropologist, and the family spent a part of her childhood (including some years of primary school)[2] living in Fiji while he studied urbanisation there.[3] Her mother was an actress.[3] After returning to New Zealand, she attended secondary school in Auckland at Auckland Girls' Grammar before gaining Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees at the University of Auckland.

Professional life

After leaving university she worked for some time as a lawyer specialising in industrial relations and employment law, and developing close links to the trade-union movement.[4]

1982–1996 – Labour, NewLabour, and the Alliance

Harré joined the Labour Party in 1982, representing the youth wing on the party's New Zealand Council. Throughout her seven-year membership of the party she was a critic of the policies advanced by Roger Douglas, who became Minister of Finance when Labour won the 1984 election. Douglas, an advocate of free-market economics, introduced a programme of radical reforms (Rogernomics) which alienated many of Labour's traditional supporters, including Harré.[5]

In 1989, Harré resigned from the Labour Party. She became a founding member of the NewLabour Party, an organisation started by dissident Labour MP Jim Anderton. NewLabour later joined with several other parties to form the Alliance. Harré stood as the Alliance candidate for the Te Atatu electorate in the 1993 elections, but was unsuccessful.

1996–2002 – Member of Parliament

Parliament of New Zealand
Years Term Electorate List Party
1996–99 45th List 8 Alliance
1999–2002 46th List 6 Alliance

In the 1996 elections, which took place under the new MMP electoral system, the Alliance ranked Harré in eighth place on its party list. The Alliance gained a sufficient number of votes for Harré to enter parliament.[6]

After the 1999 elections, the Alliance formed a coalition government with Labour (which had by then backed away from many of the policies introduced by Douglas). Harré became Minister of Women's Affairs and Minister of Youth Affairs and Associate Minister of Labour and Commerce. She later gained additional responsibilities as Minister of Statistics.[6]

She led the parliamentary campaign for the introduction of paid parental leave from Opposition and as a Minister sponsored the legislation to introduce 12 weeks paid parental leave in 2002. Other causes championed by Harré included legislation protecting the interests of building industry sub-contractors, significant minimum-wage increases and the removal of age discrimination in the minimum wage. She re-launched the pay-equity debate as Minister of Women's Affairs, and a campaign to increase annual leave from three weeks to four weeks.

In late 2001, however, the Alliance began to show signs of internal strain.[7] In particular, some members of the party felt that it was losing its independent political identity and failing to differentiate itself from the Labour Party on issues such as free trade, tertiary-education funding and other core areas. The decision of Jim Anderton and a majority of Alliance MPs to back New Zealand's involvement in the US-led invasion of Afghanistan brought these tensions to a head, dividing the caucus and separating the parliamentary leadership from the majority in the non-parliamentary party organisation (led by Matt McCarten). Harré, however, aligned herself with the grass-roots party view, and became its de facto leader in parliament.[8][9]

The collapse of the Alliance soon became inevitable,[10] with Anderton and his supporters deciding to contest the 2002 election as a new party (the Progressives). Harré, considered to be the foremost of the MPs who remained behind, was chosen to lead what remained of the Alliance into its election campaign, aiming to at least retain a presence in parliament.[11] Harré herself was seen as the party's best chance of keeping a parliamentary seat, having a relatively strong chance of winning the seat of Waitakere. In the election itself, however, Harré placed second, being defeated by Labour's Lynne Pillay.[12]

The following year, Harré stepped down as leader of the Alliance, being replaced by Matt McCarten. She was not aligned to any other political party from 2002–2011 but in 2012 accepted a role as issues director of the Green Party.[13]

2002–2014 – Intermission from parliamentary politics

From 2002 to 2005 Harré led the industrial work of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, including its successful pay-equity campaign for public-sector nurses. She served as General Secretary of the National Distribution Union from 2005 to 2009,[14] after which she joined the Auckland Transition Agency.[15]

Harré speaking at the New Zealand Council of Trade Union's biennial women's conference in 2009

Between 2010 and 2012 Harré worked for the International Labour Organisation in Fiji. Subsequently in 2012 she started work as the inaugural issues director of the Green Party,[16] a position she resigned from in 2013.

Harré co-owns an Auckland restaurant, O'Sarracino, which is working towards paying a living wage to its staff.[17]

2014 – Return to parliamentary politics

On 29 May 2014, Harré was named as the first leader of New Zealand's Internet Party.[1] The party allied with the Mana Party to contest the 2014 election as the Internet MANA Party. Harré had second place on the combined party's list.[18] Vikram Kumar (secretary of the Internet Party) initially approached her about becoming a candidate; she declined, but later reconsidered after a meeting with Kim Dotcom. She stated at the time she got involved again in politics because she wanted to encourage young people to vote, and to reconnect disenfranchised people with the political system.[19]

Following the failure of Internet MANA to enter Parliament, Harré stood back from media view for several weeks before formally announcing she was stepping down as leader of the Internet Party, effective December 2014.[20][21]

Since the election Harré has been occasionally writing on New Zealand left-wing blog site The Daily Blog, and undertook a 'pilgrimage' across New Zealand called Rethinking the System.[21]

Personal life

Harré lives in Mt Eden, Auckland, and is married to Barry Gribben. They met through the Labour Party and share an interest in an organic vineyard, a restaurant, and several properties.[22][23][24] She also has two children.[25]

Harré was diagnosed with breast cancer and because she has a family history of the disease, opted for a double mastectomy and breast reconstruction. She made a full recovery.[26]

She has run five marathons including the 2013 Boston Marathon, where she was only a few hundred metres away from the terrorist bombing that occurred near the finish line.[24][27][28]

References

  1. 1 2 "Laila Harre confirmed as Internet Party leader". New Zealand Herald. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  2. ↑ Cumming, Geoff (August 14, 2010). "Steely leftie sitting at the bosses' table". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  3. 1 2 Calder, Peter (July 7, 2001). "Laila Harre - A leftie who treads warily". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  4. ↑ Internet Party (29 May 2014). "INTRODUCING: Laila Harré Leader of the Internet Party". Medium.com. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  5. ↑ Myers, Douglas (23 Feb 1998). "Labour and the Alliance: Time for scrutiny" (PDF). The New Zealand Initiative. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Hon Laila Harré". Wellington: New Zealand Government. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
  7. ↑ Small, Vernon (21 November 2001). "Alliance party digs in for trench war". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  8. ↑ Young, Audrey (20 March 2002). "Anderton's party coming undone". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  9. ↑ Small, Vernon (23 March 2002). "Political review: Factions start to focus on how to sell the break-up". Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  10. ↑ "Editorial: Alliance wounds too deep to heal". New Zealand Herald. 27 November 2001.
  11. ↑ "Party list: Alliance". New Zealand Herald.
  12. ↑ "Official Count Results -- Waitakere (2002)". New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  13. ↑ "Laila Harre signs up with the Greens". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  14. ↑ National Distribution Union (7 July 2009). "Changes at the Helm of National Distribution Union (press release)". scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  15. ↑ "Laila Harré joins the ATA (press release)". Auckland Transition Agency. 7 July 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  16. ↑ "Laila Harre joins the Green Party". New Zealand Herald. 30 March 2012. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
  17. ↑ "Restaurant serves up living wage". New Zealand Herald. 18 February 2014. Retrieved 2014-03-08.
  18. ↑ "Mana cites youth vote for link-up with Internet Party". 28 May 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  19. ↑ Wilson, Mary (29 May 2014). "Laila Harre new Internet Party leader". Checkpoint. Radio New Zealand National. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  20. ↑ "Laila Harre Quits as Internet Leader". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  21. 1 2 "Harre Resigns as Internet Leader". 3 News. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  22. ↑ Harré, Lalia. ""29 years" tweet". Twitter. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  23. ↑ Walters, Laura and Watkins, Tracy (30 May 2014). "Dotcom pumps 3m into party". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  24. 1 2 Nichols, Lane (12 August 2014). "Leaders Unplugged: Laila Harre: Recharged, reinvented and in the running". Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  25. ↑ Blackstock, Russell (1 June 2014). "Internet Party's focus on young people". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  26. ↑ "Harre repels cancer threat". The New Zealand Herald. 2 June 2012.
  27. ↑ "Kiwi in Boston feeling the 'aroha'". 3 News NZ. 17 April 2013.
  28. ↑ "Kiwi runners at the heart of Boston blast chaos". stuff.co.nz. 16 May 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-16.

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