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Anna Lorck

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Anna Lorck
Lorck in 2023
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Tukituki
In office
17 October 2020 – 14 October 2023
Preceded byLawrence Yule
Succeeded byCatherine Wedd
Personal details
Political partyLabour
SpouseDamon Harvey
Children5
ProfessionBusiness owner

Anna Louise Lorck[1] is a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. She served in the New Zealand House of Representatives as the MP for Tukituki from 2020 to 2023.[2]

Early life and career

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Lorck grew up in Waipukurau and trained as a journalist. Before entering parliament, she owned a public relations company.[3]

Hawkes' Bay District Health Board

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Before standing as a Labour Party candidate, Lorck, who had vocally opposed Labour sacking the Hawke's Bay District Health Board (DHB), volunteered to phone canvass to motivate voter turnout for two hours for the National Party. She was never a member of the party.[4]

In 2019 Lorck was elected to the Hawke's Bay DHB, as the highest polling new candidate.[5] She served as part of the governance of the region's response to COVID-19. Lorck advocates for a local cardiology centre, costed at $15 million, to enable life-saving surgery locally.[6]

Political career

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Labour parliamentary candidate, 2014–2020

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New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2020–2023 53rd Tukituki none Labour

At the 2014 election, Lorck, a Hastings business woman, stood as a candidate in the Tukituki electorate for the Labour Party, and did not stand on the Labour list. As a first time candidate she made significant progress into the margin against incumbent National Party MP Craig Foss, and announced she would stand again at the 2017 election. She was ranked 46 on the Labour party list.[7]

During a tightly fought contest, in July 2017 a complaint by a right-wing blogger, was made against Lorck to the Advertising Standards Authority over her billboard wording of "Your Local MP". Lorck responded by stating the intention of the message was to convey that she lived in the Tukituki electorate while National candidate Lawrence Yule lived in neighboring Napier.[8] Lorck again made significant inroads into the majority but was not elected, nor ranked high enough on the Labour list to be elected to Parliament.[6]

At the 2020 general election, Lorck was selected as the Labour candidate for Tukituki for the third time. She was given the Labour Party's endorsement to run a local MP campaign and consequently was not on the party list.[6] This time she unseated Yule by a margin of 1590 votes, returning the electorate to Labour for the first time since 2002.[9][10]

Member of Parliament

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In August 2022, a former senior staffer within the New Zealand Parliament alleged that Lorck had bullied her, and that Lorck had been through three executive assistants in a year and a half.[11] In September 2022, a second former staffer made allegations of bullying including "persistent scolding" against Lorck. In response to media coverage, Lorck confirmed that she was undergoing leadership training and claimed that she had never received complaints of bullying from the staffer during their employment period.[12][13]

During the 2023 New Zealand general election, Lorck was unseated by National Party candidate Catherine Wedd, who won by a margin of 10,118 votes.[14]

Personal life

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Lorck is married to Hastings District Councillor Damon Harvey.[15][16] They have a blended family of five children.[16]

References

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  1. ^ "Event – New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz.
  2. ^ "Election 2020: The 40 diverse new MPs entering Parliament". Newstalk ZB. 18 October 2020. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2020 – via The New Zealand Herald.
  3. ^ Joyce, Diane (19 March 2014). "Lorck is Labour's latest candidate". Hastings Mail. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  4. ^ Christian, Harrison (23 June 2014). "I'm no Nat, says Labour candidate Anna Lorck". Hawke's Bay Today. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  5. ^ Lampp, Warwick (18 October 2019). "Hawke's Bay District Health Board: 2019 Triennial Elections" (PDF). Hawke's Bay District Health Board. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  6. ^ a b c Sharpe, Marty (7 October 2020). "Can Labour's Anna Lorck make it 'third-time lucky' in Tukituki?". Stuff. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Revised Labour Party List for the 2017 Election". Scoop. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  8. ^ Sharpe, Marty (25 July 2017). "Complaints made over billboard that appears to say candidate is local MP when she is not". Hawke's Bay Today. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  9. ^ "Tukituki – Official Result". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  10. ^ Gilbertson, Georgia-May (18 October 2020). "National's Lawrence Yule on being ousted in Tukituki after 20 years in Hawke's Bay politics". Stuff. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  11. ^ Witton, Bridie (12 August 2022). "Senior staffer levels bullying allegation at Labour MP". Stuff. Archived from the original on 2 September 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  12. ^ Witton, Bridie (15 September 2022). "Fresh bullying allegations against Labour MP Anna Lorck. MP says she's working with a leadership coach". Stuff. Archived from the original on 15 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  13. ^ "Labour MP Anna Lorck in leadership training after bullying accusations". Radio New Zealand. 15 September 2022. Archived from the original on 15 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  14. ^ "Tukituki - Official Result". Electoral Commission. 3 November 2023. Archived from the original on 23 November 2023. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  15. ^ Harvey, Damon; Lorck, Anna (27 August 2018). "Decision of BSA and announcement of defamation proceedings" (Press release). Scoop. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  16. ^ a b "Local Focus: MP Anna Lorck ends husband Damon Harvey's political ambition". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Tukituki
2020–2023 		Succeeded by
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