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Jill Day (politician)

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Jill Day
Day in 2021
37th President of the Labour Party
Incumbent
Assumed office
5 November 2022
Vice PresidentCarol Beaumont
Preceded byClaire Szabó
26th Deputy Mayor of Wellington
In office
27 September 2017 – 30 October 2019
MayorJustin Lester
Preceded byPaul Eagle
Succeeded bySarah Free
Personal details
Born1978 or 1979 (age 45–46)[1]
Palmerston North, New Zealand
Political partyLabour
Children3
Alma materVictoria University of Wellington
ProfessionTeacher

Jillian Marie Day (born 1978 or 1979) is a New Zealand politician. She is the president of the New Zealand Labour Party, and was deputy mayor of Wellington from 2017 to 2019.

Early life and family

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Of Ngāti Tūwharetoa descent, Day was born in Palmerston North and also lived in Christchurch before moving to Wellington when she was 14 years old. She holds a science degree in biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology from Victoria University of Wellington and a post graduate diploma in primary teaching,[2] and went on to become a primary school teacher in Wellington.

She lives in Tawa with her husband and three children. She was a stay-at-home mum for 10 years until her youngest child started school, when she re-entered the workforce with a part-time job helping children who were falling behind with literacy skills.[1]

Political career

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Wellington City Council

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Day was the president of the local playcentre and managed the Bikes in Schools programme, where she often lobbied her local councillor Justin Lester, who encouraged her to run for the council herself.[1]

Day felt urged to run for the Wellington City Council after meeting a homeless family in 2016. Though running as an independent, she stated that "it's pretty clear I'm a left-leaning political being".[1] In the 2016 elections, she succeeded Justin Lester, who was elected mayor, in the Northern ward, and became the first Māori woman to be elected to the council.[3] On 28 September 2017, less than a year into her first term, she was appointed deputy mayor by Lester, replacing Paul Eagle who had been elected to parliament in the general election.[4] She held this position until 2019 when Lester lost the mayoral election to Andy Foster.

In the 2019–2022 term, she was chair of the Strategy and Policy Committee until June 2021 and thereafter chair of the Social, Cultural and Economic Committee.[5] In these roles she drove the process to create a Māori ward in Wellington.[6]

In February 2022, she announced she would not stand again for Council at the 2022 election, instead running for and being elected to the Tawa Community Board.[7][8] She was elected as an independent candidate, topping the poll with more votes than any other candidate. She currently serves as chair of the board.[9]

Labour Party

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Day joined the Labour Party before the 2020 general election.[10] In July 2022, she was elected unopposed to be the next president of the Labour Party after Claire Szabó stated she would not seek re-election that year. She was the only nomination to take over from Szabó at the 2022 Labour Party annual conference.[11][12] Her election as president was confirmed in November 2022 at the conference.[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Devlin, Collette (1 October 2017). "Jill Day: The journey from stay-home mum to Wellington's deputy mayor". Stuff. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  2. ^ "About the Council - Councillor Jill Day". Wellington City Council. Archived from the original on 21 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  3. ^ Cann, Ged (18 October 2016). "Jill Day becomes first Maori woman elected to Wellington City Council". Dominion Post. Stuff.
  4. ^ Devlin, Collette (28 September 2017). "First-time councillor Jill Day appointed as Wellington's new deputy mayor". Dominion Post. Stuff.
  5. ^ "Wellington.Scoop » WCC inaugurates 9 new committees, named after the nine brains of an octopus". Retrieved 2022-07-21.
  6. ^ "Council votes for Māori Ward". Wellington City Council. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  7. ^ MacManus, Joel (2 February 2022). "Four Wellington City councillors standing down at next election". Stuff. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  8. ^ Wellington City Council (9 October 2022). "Progress report for 2022 elections – Wellington City". Wellington City Council. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  9. ^ "Wellington City Council – 2022 Triennial Elections" (PDF). Wellington City Council. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  10. ^ Campbell, Georgina (14 April 2021). "A Capital Letter: Paul Eagle's power play raises question of Wellington mayoral bid". NZ Herald. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
  11. ^ McConnell, Glenn (18 July 2022). "Wellington's former deputy mayor Jill Day is next Labour Party president". Stuff. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  12. ^ Coughlan, Thomas (18 July 2022). "Ex-deputy mayor Jill Day to become Labour President". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  13. ^ Verschaffelt, Peter (4 November 2022). "Labour conference day to shine for new president". Waatea News. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
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  • Media related to Jill Day at Wikimedia Commons
Party political offices
Preceded by President of the Labour Party
2022–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Deputy Mayor of Wellington
2017–2019 		Succeeded by
Sarah Free
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