Rachel Boyack | |
|---|---|
 Boyack in 2023 | |
| Member of theNew Zealand Parliament forNelson | |
| Assumed office 17 October 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Nick Smith |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1979 or 1980 (age 44–45)[1] Timaru, New Zealand |
| Political party | Labour |
| Residence | Nelson |
Rachel Elizabeth Boyack-Mayer is a New Zealand unionist and politician. Since 2020, she has been aMember of Parliament for theLabour Party.
Boyack was born inTimaru and grew up inPalmerston North, having moved there aged nine.[2] She attendedRoss Intermediate with future MPsTangi Utikere andTim Costley and went on toPalmerston North Girls' High School.[2][3] Her father, Jonathan Boyack, was a public health administrator who worked as an area health board chief executive and later moved toBirmingham where he was a hospital trust chief executive. Her parents separated in the 1990s and she was raised by her mother, a church organist.[4][5] Her maternal grandfather, Alan Earl, was considered for theNational Party candidacy inWairarapa but was reportedly passed over due to his opposition to the1981 Springbok rugby union tour.[5]
Boyack earned aBachelor of Music degree from theUniversity of Auckland and was a member of the New Zealand Youth Choir.[6] She married Scott Mayer, an accountant, and the couple moved toNelson, where Boyack was assistant director of music atChrist Church Cathedral.[7]
For three years, Boyack was the student union president for Saniti, the student union forNelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.[8][9] Following that, from about 2012 onward, she was the Nelson organiser ofFirst Union.[8] Her activities included protesting low wages at supermarkets,[10] clashing with themayor of Nelson,Rachel Reese,[11] and opposing the closure of a bank's branch inStoke.[12][13] 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.[14]
| Years | Term | Electorate | List | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–2023 | 53rd | Nelson | 57 | Labour | |
| 2023–present | 54th | Nelson | 42 | Labour | |
Boyack has been a member of theLabour Party since 2005.[8] She was selected as its candidate for theNelson electorate in January 2017,[15] having expressed an interest in doing so in 2015.[8] The Nelson electorate had been held by National Party MPNick Smith since 1996. She was also placed on the Labour party list at 48th place.[16] She finished runner-up, but lowered Smith's majority by 3000 votes.[17]
She was selected to stand in Nelson for Labour again in2020.[14] In the 2020 general election, she was elected to the Nelson seat by a final margin of 4,525 votes, ousting the incumbent Smith.[18][19]
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.[20] She sang a hymn at the conclusion of her maiden statement on 10 February 2021.[5] Her private member's bill, the Plain Language Bill, was debated a first time in October 2021.[21] 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,[22] but passed into law in October 2022.[23] Boyack also oversaw the passage of a private bill modernising the governance arrangements of theCawthron Institute.[24]
Official results for the2023 New Zealand general election, as of 3 November 2023, showed Boyack retaining the Nelson seat by 29 votes over National's candidateBlair Cameron.[25] On 8 November, the National Party sought a judicial recount in the Nelson electorate.[26][27] 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.[28]
In late November 2023, Boyack became spokesperson for theAccident Compensation Corporation (ACC), arts, culture and heritage, and animal welfare in theShadow Cabinet of Chris Hipkins.[29]
In early March 2025, Boyack gained the oceans and fisheries portfolio during a shadow cabinet reshuffle. She retained the arts, culture and heritage and animal welfare portfolios but lost the ACC portfolio.[30]
| New Zealand Parliament | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Nelson 2020–present | Incumbent |
