Carol Beaumont
Carol Ann Beaumont (born 6 October 1960) is a politician from New Zealand, first elected to represent the Labour Party through the party list vote in the . Beaumont stood in the electorate, finishing second in both 2008 and 2011. In the she initially missed joining the 50th New Zealand Parliament, her list ranking (22) sitting just below the cut-off due to Labour's reduced party vote. In March 2013 Charles Chauvel's resignation saw her return to Parliament until her defeat at the . Biography. Union career. Beaumont was heavily involved during her years at University in the  Student Associations around New Zealand. She worked as a Research Officer and Tertiary Union Delegate during this time. In May 2003 Beaumont was elected Secretary of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions. This followed 20 years involvement in the union movement. Member of Parliament. Beaumont stood for Labour in the Maungakiekie seat at the 2008 general election, finishing second to National's Sam Lotu-Iiga. The seat had previously been held by Labour's Mark Gosche. She was ranked 28th on Labour's party list and was elected to Parliament as a List MP. In the 49th Parliament Beaumont  was appointed Labour's spokesperson for Consumer Affairs, and associate spokesperson for Labour by Labour leader Phil Goff. In early 2010 she took over responsibility for Charles Chauvel's Credit Reforms (Responsible Lending) Bill, which had been drawn from the ballot in August 2009. The bill was defeated at its first reading in July 2010. At the 2011 general election Beaumont again contested Maungakiekie finishing second to incumbent Sam Lotu-Iiga. She was ranked 22 on Labour's party list but this was not high enough to be reelected. Following the resignation of list MP Charles Chauvel, Beaumont was declared  elected to parliament on 12 March 2013. At the 2014 election Beaumont stood again for the seat of with a potential boost in numbers due to boundary changes moving several thousand new voters into the area whom were cited as potential Labour voters by media sources. Beaumont failed to take the seat back for Labour and was not elected on the List again due to her position being several places below the Party Vote entitlement. Post-parliamentary career. Since the 2014 election Beaumont has been working still in the public service; currently she has undertaken campaigning to highlight loan shark  issues as well as sitting as an Advisory Member of the Work Research Institute. In 2021 Beaumont was elected vice-president of the Labour Party following the resignation of Tracey McLellan, who had been elected to parliament the previous year. In the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours, Beaumont was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the union movement and women's rights. Personal life. Beaumont's partner, Robert Gallagher, was one of the Labour Party campaign team strategists and in January 2015 announced his intention to stand for the Labour Party Presidency. Carol