Louisa Wall

Born in Taupo, Wall has Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngati Hineuru and Waikato ancestry. She was named after her father's cousin Louis, who died on the day she was born.[1]

She attended secondary school at Taupo-nui-a-Tia College and earned qualifications from the Waikato Institute of Technologyand the University of Waikato (Certificate and Diploma in Sport and Recreation) and Massey University (Bachelor of Social Policy and Social Work; M. Phil (Social Policy)). She worked in the health field.[2] She is openly lesbian[3] and is a strong advocate for human rights.

In the 2005 election Wall stood unsuccessfully in the Port Waikato electorate and occupied the 46th position on the Labour list.

Wall became a Labour Party member of parliament on 4 March 2008 to replace retiring list MP Ann Hartley. In the 2008 election, she unsuccessfully stood in Tāmaki Makaurau, against Māori Party leader Pita Sharples.

Wall returned to Parliament as a Labour List MP after Darren Hughes resigned, as she had been selected in December 2010 to represent Labour in Manurewa due to the retirement of George Hawkins. Serving in the 49th New Zealand Parliament,[4] she subsequently won the Manurewa electorate in the 2011 election and returned to the 50th New Zealand Parliament.[5] She continued to hold Manurewa by a comfortable margin in both the 2014 and 2017 elections.[6][7]

Wall was nominated by the Manurewa Local Electorate Committee for reselection as the Labour candidate for Manurewa at the 2020 general election. Arena Williams and Ian Dunwoodie challenged Wall for the party selection.[8] Dunwoodie had previously run for selection in 2010, but lost to Wall. Arena Williams, who was mentored by Grant Robertson, submitted her nomination after the advertised deadline. [9] The selection was scheduled to be held on 21 March 2020, but was delayed due to the late nomination of Arena Williams and a challenge by Ian Dunwoodie to the Local Electorate Committee participation on the Selection Panel. On 9 May 2020 the NZ Council of the Labour Party accepted Arena William's nomination and removed the Local Electorate Committee representation from the Selection Panel. Wall sought legal advice which she shared with the NZ Council and suggested internal resolution. However the NZ Council rescheduled the selection for 30 May and following discussions with the Party over the legal issues, Wall withdrew her nomination as a candidate for the Manurewa electorate to run as a list only candidate confirmed at number 29.[9]

In 2013 Wall lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission over two cartoons by Al Nisbet published by Fairfax NZ Ltd relating to the extension of the Government's breakfast in schools programme. The Human Rights Commission took no action and Wall referred the matter to the Human Rights Review Tribunal which found the cartoons insulting in their depiction of Maori and Pasifika but did not amount to a breach of s.61 of the Human Rights Act 1993. Wall appealed the decision which was the first time the High Court had considered s.61. While the High Court did not overturn the Tribunal's decision it found the cartoons were objectively offensive and observed there should be a cause for reflection by Fairfax and their editorial teams. The Court found Wall had raised important issues of public interest and no costs award was made.[10]

In May 2012, Wall submitted a Bill to legalise same-sex marriage in New Zealand to the Member's bill ballot. it was subsequently drawn and introduced to Parliament in late July 2012.[11]

On 29 August 2012, the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill passed its first reading with a vote of 80–40. On 17 April 2013, the Bill was passed into law by 77 votes to 44, making New Zealand the 13th nation to allow same-sex marriage. The Bill came into effect on 19 August 2013, since then married same sex couples in New Zealand have been able to adopt children jointly.

At the third reading, Wall gave a speech[12] likening the passing of the Bill to Treaty of Waitangi settlement acts previously passed by the New Zealand Parliament.[13] She stated the passing of the Bill was like winning a "World Cup final".[14]

Wall was named in the Silver Ferns 1989 team, aged 17, having been an outstanding athlete and scholar at Taupo-nui-a-Tia College.[15]

Inspired by watching the All Blacks on TV with her father as a child, Wall made the Black Ferns in 1995. This team would go on to win the first ever Women's Rugby World Cup.[16] The team won their first game against Germany 134–6, and the final against the USA 44–12.[17]. In 1997 Wall was NZ Women's Player of the Year

Wall had been banned from playing at her dad's club as a girl at the age of 5. After winning the World Cup in 1998, she returned to New Zealand and gave her medal to her dad. On 30 November 2019 Wall was inducted into the Maori Sports Hall of Fame.

• Parliamentary website page
• Labour Party website page
• GayNZ.com's Louisa Wall profile page