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Rachel BoyackMP
Boyack in 2023
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Nelson
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 October 2020
Preceded by	Nick Smith
Personal details
Born	1979 or 1980 (age 43–44)
Political party	Labour
Residence	Nelson

Rachel Elizabeth Boyack-Mayer is a New Zealand unionist and politician. Since 2020, she has been a Member of Parliament for the Labour Party.

Early life and career

Boyack was born in Timaru and grew up in Palmerston North, having moved there aged nine. She attended Ross Intermediate with future MPs Tangi Utikere and Tim Costley and went on to Palmerston North Girls' High School. 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. 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.

Boyack earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Auckland and was a member of the National Youth Choir. She married Scott Mayer, an accountant, and the couple moved to Nelson, where Boyack was assistant director of music at Christ Church Cathedral.

For three years, Boyack was the student union president for Saniti, the student union for Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology. Following that, from about 2012 onward, she was the Nelson organiser of First Union. Her activities included protesting low wages at supermarkets, clashing with the mayor of Nelson, Rachel Reese, and opposing the closure of a bank's branch in Stoke. 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.

Political career

Boyack has been a member of the Labour Party since 2005. She was selected as its candidate for the Nelson electorate in January 2017, having expressed an interest in doing so in 2015. 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. She finished runner-up, but lowered Smith's majority by 3000 votes.

She was selected to stand in Nelson for Labour again in 2020. In the 2020 general election, she was elected to the Nelson seat by a final margin of 4,525 votes, ousting the incumbent Smith.

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. She sang a hymn at the conclusion of her maiden statement on 10 February 2021. Her private member's bill, the Plain Language Bill, was debated a first time in October 2021. 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, but passed into law in October 2022. Boyack also oversaw the passage of a private bill modernising the governance arrangements of the Cawthron Institute.

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. On 8 November, the National Party sought a judicial recount in the Nelson electorate. 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.

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.

References

1. "Rachel Boyack". Policy.nz. 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
2. ^ "Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Amendment Bill — Third Reading". www.parliament.nz. 31 August 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
3. "Address in Reply Debate". www.parliament.nz. 6 December 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
4. "Palmerston North Reserves Empowering Amendment Bill — Second Reading". www.parliament.nz. 30 January 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
5. ^ "Maiden Statement - New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
6. Sivignon, Cherie (11 November 2019). "Rachel Boyack returns as Labour Party candidate in Nelson for 2020". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
7. Leov, Tasha (31 May 2016). "Nelson Cathedral invite youth to be choristers". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
8. ^ Knott, Stacey (14 April 2015). "Nelson union rep Rachel Boyack considering running for Labour". Nelson Mail. Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
9. Roberts, Adam (24 March 2011). "Students hit by hardship". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
10. "Union reps arrested at Nelson supermarket protests". Stuff.co.nz. 13 February 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
11. Long, Jessica (13 December 2016). "Online political clash 'out of hand' over Easter trading policy". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
12. Leov, Tasha (19 August 2016). "Nelson residents upset over proposed Westpac closures". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
13. Carson, Jonathan (22 September 2016). "Closure of Westpac's Stoke branch 'extreme arrogance', Grey Power says". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
14. ^ Sivignon, Cherie (12 November 2019). "Rachel Boyack returns as Labour Party candidate in Nelson for 2020". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
15. Anderson, Charles (20 January 2017). "Rachel Boyack selected as Labour Party candidate for Nelson". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
16. "Revised Labour Party List for the 2017 Election". Scoop.co.nz. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
17. Anderson, Charles (14 November 2019). "Boyack to challenge Smith again at elections". Nelson Weekly. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
18. "Nelson – Official Result". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
19. "Election 2020: Nick Smith concedes seat in Nelson to Labour". Stuff. 17 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
20. "Boyack, Rachel - New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. 30 January 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
21. "Plain Language Bill — First Reading Summary - New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. 30 January 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
22. "Plain language? Forsooth, forfend!". RNZ. 23 September 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
23. Sivignon, Cherie (22 October 2022). "Nelson MP Rachel Boyack's Plain Language Bill passes into law". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
24. "Cawthron Bill passes to allow iwi representation at board level | Nelson App". nelsonapp.co.nz. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
25. Ridout, Amy (3 November 2023). "Special votes swing Nelson back Labour's way by 29 votes but recount looms". Stuff. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
26. 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.
27. 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.
28. "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.
29. "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.

• Living people
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