23 Facts About Ruth Dyson

Ruth Suzanne Dyson was born on 11 August 1957 and is a former New Zealand politician.

Ruth Dyson was a Labour Party Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2020.

Ruth Dyson represented the Port Hills electorate from the 2008 election election to 2020.

Ruth Dyson held a number of senior offices in the Labour Party, including president.

Ruth Dyson's father served in the New Zealand Army, and so Dyson's family frequently moved around the country.

Ruth Dyson worked as an organiser for Wilde's re-election campaign in Wellington Central for the 1987 election.

Ruth Dyson was then employed as an executive officer at Wellington Regional Employment and ACCESS Control.

Ruth Dyson held several senior positions in the Labour Party hierarchy.

Ruth Dyson was the elected vice president of the party at the 1987 Labour conference.

At the 1988 conference in Dunedin Ruth Dyson won a highly contested campaign to win the party president from former president and maverick MP Jim Anderton by 99 votes.

Ruth Dyson beat 5 other local aspirants for the nomination and pledged to move from Wellington into the electorate before the election.

Ruth Dyson first entered Parliament in the 1993 election, winning the Lyttelton electorate against National's David Carter.

Ruth Dyson became a list MP owing to her position on the Labour Party's list.

Ruth Dyson has remained the MP for the area since that time, holding the seat until her retirement in 2020.

Ruth Dyson was a senior member of the Labour Party during the Helen Clark-led Fifth Labour Government, serving in a range of health and employment-related portfolios including Minister for Disability Issues, Minister for ACC, Minister of Labour and Minister for Social Development and Employment.

Ruth Dyson regained most of her ministerial responsibilities on 4 June 2001.

Ruth Dyson was deputy chair of the Health select committee and chair of the Government Administration select committee.

Ruth Dyson had been positioned to be Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives if Labour won the 2017 general election.

However, when the Assistant Speaker Poto Williams was appointed as a Minister outside Cabinet in July 2019, Ruth Dyson was named as her replacement.

Ruth Dyson was chair of the Abortion Legislation Committee and a member of the Epidemic Response Committee.

In March 2019, Ruth Dyson indicated that she would not seek re-election at the 2020 general election.

In March 2023, Ruth Dyson was accused of not being politically impartial in her roles as deputy chair of the Earthquake Commission and Fire and Emergency New Zealand as is the expectation of public servants and government-appointed board members.

Ruth Dyson admitted to not having read the code of conduct governing her position as a Crown entity board member.