Marilyn Waring’s 'The Political Years'
Wednesday 22 May 2019
5.30pm - 8.00pm
National Library Foyer, corner Molesworth and Aitkens Streets, Thorndon.
In 1975 Marilyn Waring was elected to the New Zealand Parliament as the MP for Raglan.
Aged just 23 and only the fifteenth woman to enter Parliament, she served through the turbulent years of Muldoon’s government. During her time in Parliament she was chair of the Public Expenditure Committee, before crossing the floor to support nuclear-free legislation which ultimately led to the fall of the National government.
The Political Years is an autobiographical account of her time at the forefront of male-dominated public life and sits alongside Marilyn’s other books, including Counting for Nothing and Still Counting.
The talk will be chaired by Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw and is part of the BWB Talks series.
About the speaker
In the years since she retired from Parliament in 1984, Marilyn Waring has published numerous books as well as continuing to contribute to the public service through university fellowships around the world, development in consultancy for Asia and the Pacific, contributions to boards and councils in New Zealand as well as her work in academia.
In 2008, she was awarded a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for services to women and economics, and in 2011 she received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Glasgow Caledonia University for research in international feminism and female human rights.
Marilyn Waring is, today, a Professor of Public Policy at Auckland University of Technology.
Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw is a New Zealand researcher and communicator, and good science advocate. She is co-director of think-and-do tank The Workshop, and a senior research associate at the Public Policy Institute at the University of Auckland.
In 2018, she published BWB Text A Matter of Fact: Talking Truth in a Post-Truth World.
Image: Cover of The Political Years by Marilyn Waring (BWB 2019)
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
Have you got New Zealand's best shed? Show us and win!
Once again, Resene and NZ Gardener are on the hunt for New Zealand’s best shed! Send in the photos and the stories behind your man caves, she sheds, clever upcycled spaces, potty potting sheds and colourful chicken coops. The Resene Shed of the Year 2026 winner receives $1000 Resene ColorShop voucher, a $908 large Vegepod Starter Pack and a one-year subscription to NZ Gardener. To enter, tell us in writing (no more than 500 words) why your garden shed is New Zealand’s best, and send up to five high-quality photos by email to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. Entries close February 23, 2026.
Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!
Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.
Loading…
