PM Jacinda Ardern commenting on the resignation of Louisa Wall. Video / Mark Mitchell
Louisa Wall had known the writing was on the wall of her political career since the 2020 election.
Wall has been one of the most effective members of Parliament in recent times, helped by uncanny luck when it came to having her member's bills drawn from the ballot as wellas her ability to marshall the support for them from MPs across Parliament.
She changed New Zealand society as she did so: her 2013 bill to legalise same-sex marriage was the best-known example, but the last month has also seen her pass bills to make revenge porn a crime and set up no-protest zones outside abortion clinics.
But she was a squeaky wheel and most parties prefer compliant, well-oiled wheels.
It was noteworthy that on social media the first acknowledgements came from non-Labour MPs.
Among them was Christopher Bishop, who noted Wall achieved more as an MP than almost every minister in the party she belonged to. "I will miss her and I think the Parliament will too." Maori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi tweeted she would be a great loss to Labour.
The PM was gracious, but other Labour ministers were more reserved.
PM Jacinda Ardern and Labour MP Louisa Wall at the Big Gay Out in Point Chevalier in 2020. Photo / Peter Meecham
Kelvin Davis - once reportedly the target of criticism by Wall during a Maori caucus meeting - responded with a Māori proverb "ka hinga atu he tetekura. Ka hara mai he tetekura".
The saying loosely translates as "As one fern frond dies, one is born to take its place."
It could be taken as a poetic way of saying good riddance, bring on the replacement.
Her resignation statement was true to form. Wall does not like to gloss over things or pretend things are not the way they are.
Wall did not come out with a trite line about spending more time with her family.
Instead she directly stated it was the result of the events of the 2020 election: a reference to the stramash over the Manurewa electorate where she had been MP since the 2011 election. (Prior to that she had served for a few months as a list MP ahead of the 2008 election when Ann Hartley resigned and again for a few months ahead of the 2011 election after Darren Hughes resigned.)
In 2020 Labour wanted to install Arena Williams instead. Wall refused to roll over, there were rumblings about legal challenges and the party eventually brokered a high list place for Wall instead.
NZ Herald's Audrey Young chronicled that saga here: noting Walls' supporters, including Nanaia Mahuta and Michael Wood, had helped broker the deal to save face for Wall and that it could have include help to find a new job for Wall to leave during the term.
Wall knew then it was for a limited stay: it had become obvious she would never be made a minister and her chances of a repeat high ranking in 2023 were low.
She was also aware of the reasons. Wall's effectiveness and outspoken ways were acknowledged by Labour but not necessarily always welcomed by Labour.
Wall was an unstinting and outspoken champion for causes – sometimes at the expense of the party line. One example was her open accusation of China organ harvesting from Uyghurs and the Falun Gong.
It was that tendency made her so effective but it also that rubbed some of her colleagues up the wrong way and stymied her chances of becoming a government minister.
Wall knew full well it came at the cost of her own political advancement but she was not one for forelock tugging for personal advancement – she was a genuine principles-based politician.
The month of March 2022 was Wall's wrap-up month. On March 2, her bill to make revenge porn a crime passed – it makes it an offence to post intimate photos or videos of someone without their consent.
On March 16, Walls' final two bills passed. One established a safe zone around abortion clinics. The other was a private bill to allow Katherine Harris to be named as the mother on the birth certificate of her daughter, Paige Harris. Paige was born through surrogacy and Katherine had died a few months before her birth.
On the day those bills passed their final readings, I texted a congratulations to Wall. She replied "thank you. How privileged are we? We can make the lives of our citizens better!"
