Maryan Street


Maryan Street is a former Member of the New Zealand Parliament for the New Zealand Labour Party. She was a Cabinet Minister in the 2005–08 Coalition Government led by former Prime Minister Helen Clark. She has been active in the field of human rights and good governance, particularly for women and the labour movement. In the 2005 election, she became the first openly gay female MP elected to the New Zealand Parliament. She was an MP for nine years between 2005 and 2014.

Early years

Street was born and raised in New Plymouth, and studied at Victoria University of Wellington, receiving a BA in 1976. She joined the Labour Party in 1984, and was President of the Labour Party from April 1993 to November 1995. In 1990 she was appointed Director of Labour Studies at Auckland University, where she gained a Master of Philosophy in Industrial Relations in 1993. She served on the boards of government agencies Housing New Zealand and the Crown Forestry Rental Trust. In 1990 she was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal for service to New Zealand.
In 1993, Street was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal for service to women.

Member of Parliament

In the 2005 election, Street was ranked thirty-sixth on its party list. This was the second highest position given by Labour in 2005 to a person who was not already a member of Parliament. She also contested the safe National seat of Taranaki-King Country against the incumbent National Party MP, Shane Ardern. Street was elected to parliament as a list MP.
In her first speech to the New Zealand Parliament in 2005 Street set out a human rights agenda. She said she stood for public office to campaign for social justice and believed human rights were at the core of democracy. “I have not come into this House to be less than brave about the human rights of those whom some would seek to marginalise. I seek an inclusive, just, and tolerant society as one that is more likely to be peaceful, productive, and safe for our children to grow up in. A pluralist society is stable because of its differences, not despite them. It is the very differences between people, working together peacefully and with respect for each other, that allow a society to remain strong and cohesive.”
During her nine years as an MP and Cabinet Minister she held a range of roles. Her main responsibilities involved foreign affairs, human rights, workplace relations and higher education, and economic development. In the Helen Clark-led Government of 2005–2008 she was Minister of Housing, Minister for the Accident Compensation Corporation, Associate Minister of Tertiary Education, and Associate Minister of Economic Development.
Street advanced legislation addressing tenants’ insurance rights, ethical investment, banning the importation of goods made by slave labour, and the right to die with dignity. She has also been a lead supporter of legislated human rights for the LGBTQI communities.
Street advocated on behalf of political prisoners and refugees from Myanmar. In 2010 she put a motion before the New Zealand Parliament to affirm the commitment to human rights for political prisoners in Myanmar.
She also worked with a local Myanmar refugee group while she was a Member of Parliament based in the city of Nelson. During 2011 she raised the profile of the refugee community by organising cultural events and working with authorities to obtain special immigration visas.
She visited Myanmar in November 2012 to observe the rollout of the Gavi vaccination programme to immunise in excess of one million children.
Street supported the professional development of young leaders from Myanmar who made an official visit to New Zealand in June 2015. Even though she had left Parliament by this time, an overseas aid project funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked her to contribute to its Myanmar Young Leaders Programme.

Retirement from Parliament

Following the election of the 51st New Zealand Parliament Street failed to be returned on the list despite her high placing. Maryan Street had the opportunity to return to Parliament when Jacinda Ardern won the seat vacated by David Shearer at the 2017 Mount Albert by-election, which allowed the next highest candidate from the Labour list to enter Parliament. Street declined the offer.
After leaving Parliament Street continued to maintain a high profile as a campaigner for other human rights causes, such as the right to death with dignity. In a ‘National Portrait’ newspaper article published in major Fairfax dailies in 2016, Street discussed how she once planned to train as a Presbyterian minister and how that upbringing had influenced her to take a “compassionate” approach to policies.
Street works full-time for KiwiRail as the Employee Relations Manager under Andrew Norton, Group General Manager Human Resources. Street has been an employee of KiwiRail since 20 April 2015.

International work

Street worked as an international observer of general elections across Africa and Asia, mostly on behalf of the Commonwealth, with a focus on human rights and good governance.
In 2007 she travelled to Lesotho to join the Commonwealth Expert Team observing the parliamentary elections.
In 2009 the United Nations Development Programme asked her to participate in a seminar in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the issue of power sharing in multi-party democracies.
She represented New Zealand at a joint European Parliament-United Nations conference of international parliamentarians in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2012. The conference addressed the implementation of the programme of action of the International Conference on Population and Development.
She returned to Lesotho in 2015 as a member of the Commonwealth Observer Group for the Lesotho National Assembly elections.
In 2018 she was a member of the Commonwealth Observer Group which assessed the general elections in Sierra Leone.
She was a member of the Commonwealth Observer Group which monitored the 2019 Parliamentary elections in Maldives.
She is an alumna of the New Zealand Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians group, part of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, which works to increase gender diversity in CPA activities and programmes.