New MPs: Sue Moroney

Sue Moroney

What happened to Sue Moroney in 1991 says a lot about her past association with the racing industry and her future association with politics.

She and her brother had worked hard the previous year to set up the Equine Workers' Union for low-paid stable hands and stud-workers in the horse racing industry.

No sooner had the first national award been negotiated than the union disappeared with the passage of the Employment Contracts Act 1991, one of the first measures of the Bolger-Birch National Government, which deregulated the labour market and abolished compulsory unionism.

"People working in that industry have not recovered since. One of my key learnings during that period of time is that it takes an awful lot longer to rebuild things once they have been torn away."

Sue Moroney, 41, is a wife and mother of two boys aged 6 and 7 and is based in Hamilton.

She stood against National MP Lindsay Tisch in Piako but came in on Labour's list at No 42. She was brought up on a dairy farm at Walton, near Matamata, one of five children.

Both sides of her family had been involved in racing for generations.

Her brother Mike trained the 2000 Melbourne Cup winner Brew, and she thinks he can do it again this November with Xcellent. She herself is in a syndicate that plans to race five fillies.

Sue Moroney made the transition to politics from journalism and unionism. After working on regional papers such as the Thames Star, the Huntly Press and editing the Hibiscus Coaster, she began editing the Northern Service Workers Union's journal.

That's also when she had a "fast and furious" introduction to the Labour Party, becoming a union delegate in Richard Prebble's Auckland Central electorate in 1987 - the centre of the Labour's maelstrom over economic reform.

She was with the Nurses Organisation for 12 years and for the past few years has been a self-employed workplace consultant.