Janet Mary McVeagh (née Roborgh 27 December 1941 – January 2005) was a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

disability worker, environmentalist and politician who was a co-leader of the

Values Party The Values Party was a New Zealand political party. It is considered the world's first national-level environmentalist party, pre-dating the use of "Green" as a political label. It was established in May 1972 at Victoria University of Wellingto ...

in the 1980s.

Biography

McVeagh worked for the Crippled Children Society (CCS) as a recreation officer in

New Plymouth New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Pl ...

and later

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. She had four children, three sons and one daughter. She was a long-time advocate for the environment and social justice, leading her to join the

upon its foundation in 1972. McVeagh was the organiser for several local environmental campaigns including protests against the government

Think Big Think Big was an interventionist state economic strategy of the Third National Government of New Zealand, promoted by the Prime Minister Robert Muldoon (1975–1984) and his National government in the early 1980s. The Think Big schemes saw t ...

policies, to oppose the building of a synthetic petrol plant at

Motunui Motunui (''large island'' in Māori, from ''Motu Nui'') is a settlement in northern Taranaki, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 3 close to the shore of the North Taranaki Bight, six kilometres east of Waitara ...

and a clean sea action group which lobbied to get a clean sewage treatment plant in New Plymouth. In 1982 she founded, Residents Against Dioxin, a New Plymouth-based group to cease the production of

2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid 2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (also known as 2,4,5-T), a synthetic auxin, is a chlorophenoxy acetic acid herbicide used to defoliate broad-leafed plants. It was developed in the late 1940s, synthesized by reaction of 2,4,5-trichlorophenol ...

(a toxic pesticide used in agriculture) in New Zealand. She contested the electorate of

as the Values candidate at the

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

and

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

elections. In 1981 she was elected a co-leader of the Values Party. She led the party in two general elections before resigning at the 1988 party conference. The Values Party was wound down starting in 1989 and in 1990 the remnants became part of the new

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

. McVeagh became the Green Party's disabilities spokesperson. In 1993 McVeagh moved to Auckland and at the 1999 election was the Green Party candidate for

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

. She was also allotted the relatively high

list A list is a Set (mathematics), set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of t ...

placing of 13. She finished fourth out of eleven candidates and was not high enough on the Green Party list to be elected. In Auckland McVeagh started her own business, Janet McVeagh Recreation Ltd, which provided recreation services for disabled adults and children. She died in Auckland in January 2005. Her children continued to run her company after her death.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McVeagh, Janet 1941 births 2005 deaths New Zealand women activists New Zealand activists 20th-century New Zealand politicians Values Party politicians Leaders of political parties in New Zealand Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand politicians Unsuccessful candidates in the 1978 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1981 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1984 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1999 New Zealand general election