Meet the mayoress
For the first time in nine years, Christchurch has a mayoress. Tina Law sits down with the city’s first lady, Chrissy Mauger, to talk about the role.
There is no job description for a mayoress. The title is traditionally given to the mayor’s wife but is somewhat reminiscent of days gone by when all mayors were men.
Now, a third of New Zealand’s mayors are women and people often have no idea who their mayor’s spouse is or if they even have one.
Chrissy Mauger, 65, was automatically bestowed the title when her husband, Phil Mauger, was elected Christchurch mayor in October. She has been attending public events alongside her husband and the council late last year appointed her to the Mayoral Welfare Fund committee – a role held by previous mayoresses. The fund helps families and people in extreme financial distress.
Chrissy will also attend some low-key events on the mayor’s behalf. She attended a 90th birthday party in November because the mayor was not able to make it.
The role is unpaid and completely voluntary.
No ratepayer funds are put into her role and that is exactly how it should be, Chrissy says. ‘‘If you go into this role you don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.’’
Unlike, the city’s last mayoress, Lady Jo Nicholls-Parker, Chrissy will not have an office in the Civic Building. She sees her main role as supporting Phil.
He likes her to go to events with him and she is more than happy to do so, although she says she prefers to be in the background.
‘‘I have always been reluctant to have my photo taken but there have been hundreds of them since I started. I am getting used to it now.’’
She describes the role as being eye-opening because there is so much going on in the community that people do not know about.
‘‘I would not have known if I had not been doing this. I feel lucky to be able to . . . see what is going on.’’
The best so far is attending the city’s citizenship ceremonies, she says. ’’Some people have been here 30-40 years and are still so excited to get that citizenship.
’’I love the children. They come up and they are dressed up beautifully, some in their native dress. It is just great.’’
She recalls one ceremony where a young girl, about 9 years old, came on stage by herself.
‘‘Phil said: let’s get down to her level; and I thought that is a lovely idea but as I’m going down (on my knees), I’m thinking how am I going to get up? I’m whispering to him: don’t get up before me because I need your shoulder. I managed it but I thought there is a lot of people out there to see me struggling to get off my knees.’’
Who is the mayoress?
Chrissy grew up in a state house in Shirley with parents Jack and Kathleen Nash. Her father was a carpenter and her mother worked at a shoe factory.
She went to Shirley primary and intermediate schools before attending Mairehau High School.
Her first job was working on the shop floor at Millers department store, where she became a buyer.
She then worked at Lichfield Shirt Company and was ladieswear production manager before leaving to have her first child.
Chrissy has two children to a previous marriage – Ben, 37, and Tania, 36 – and they both have two children.
She has been with Phil for 17 years. The pair knew each other through mutual friends.
‘‘He asked me to go to a function and that was it.’’
They have been married for seven years and their blended family has five children and nine grandchildren.
Chrissy is very involved in the lives of her grandchildren.
She was heading off to look after them following this interview.
‘‘Grandparents are quite involved in their grandchildren’s lives now. It is actually quite cool, you get to know them really well.
‘‘When you are looking after them and mum and dad aren’t around, I am actually more conscious of making sure they go back in one piece than I was with my own, to be honest. You don’t want anything happening on your watch.’’ She is finding it a little tricky to juggle nana duties with her new role but is managing to make it work along with her other interests. She enjoys taking part in a walking group with friends in the mornings.
The group have been walking together for more than 20 years. Until recently, Chrissy has also taken singing lessons and she enjoys doing house renovations.
Supportive role
Phil says he could not do the job without Chrissy.
‘‘She is a sounding board and a voice of reason.
‘‘She gives me very sensible advice.’’
Chrissy was initially not keen on Phil standing for the mayoralty and she admits she did not enjoy the campaign, although she still supported him throughout.
‘‘Campaigning is definitely the worst. It is a lot more intense and there are a lot more people out there willing to criticise.
‘‘It is hard to hear horrible things about your husband.’’
Chrissy had a Whipple procedure (pancreaticoduodenectomy) done during the campaign, which made things more challenging.
Part of her pancreas, small intestine, gall bladder and bile duct were removed along with a cancerous growth.
It has taken almost 12 months for Chrissy to fully recover and she reckons she is probably about 99% there now.
‘‘It was kind of like my mind was away from the campaign a little bit.
‘‘I stopped reading comments because not feeling well and reading negative comments is not a good combination. It is bad enough when you are at 100%.’’
Former mayoresses and mayor’s consorts
The late Rob Davidson, the husband of Christchurch’s most recent former mayor Lianne Dalziel, mostly took a behind-the-scenes role during his wife’s tenure. He did attend some events with her but was a well-known lawyer in his own right. (The name for a mayor’s husband is mayor’s consort).
Following Davidson’s death in August 2020, Dalziel talked about how important his unconditional support had been to her.
Lady Joanna Nicholls-Parker was Christchurch’s last mayoral spouse to hold the mayoress title, when her husband, Sir Bob Parker, was mayor between 2007 and 2013.
She was at her husband’s side at many public events and her actions came under strong public scrutiny. She was criticised for sitting in on breakfast meetings with Parker and the council chief executive and spending ratepayer money on muffins and coffees. The couple later paid back more than $600.
Between 1998 and 2007, Garry Moore’s wife, Pam Sharpe, held the mayoress title, but with four children at home she was busy.
Later in Moore’s tenure, when the children were older, Sharpe chaired the Mayoral Relief Fund.
Dr Jean Drage, a political scientist specialising in local government, says the mayoress title is reminiscent of days gone by and local government has changed.
But it is also important that leaders are well-supported in their roles. There is no legislation governing the role of a mayoress. It is up to the spouse, the mayor and the council how much of a role they play. ‘‘It is reminiscent of the old view of local government that the mayor is a man and his wife is in a supportive social role . . . local government has changed.
‘‘A third of mayors are now women and we usually don’t know anything about their partners.’’