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Mojo Celeste Mathers (née Minrod, born 23 November 1966) is a New Zealand politician and a former Member of Parliament (MP) for the Green Party. She became known through her involvement with the Malvern Hills Protection Society and helped prevent the Central Plains Water Trust's proposal to build a large irrigation dam in Coalgate. She was a senior policy advisor to the Green Party between 2006 and 2011. Mathers was elected to the 50th term of Parliament in 2011, becoming the country's first deaf Member of Parliament. "First deaf MP to join Parliament", New Zealand Herald, 10 December 2011
She has three children. In her personal life, she "strives to reduce her personal impact on the environment by being vegetarian, supporting GE free, non-toxic, organic food, fair trade and local, and using public transport". Her grandfather was the legal philosopher H. L. A. Hart and her grandmother Jenifer Hart a senior public servant in Britain.
Mathers has an Honours degree in mathematics and a master's degree in Conservation Forestry. Between 2001 and 2006, she was the joint owner of a "small business offering forestry management services". She worked for the Green Party as a senior policy advisor between 2006 and 2011.DPA welcomes new staff "DPA's Information Exchange – 15 November 2019"
Mathers first stood for Parliament in the 2005 election in the Rakaia electorate, when she was ranked 16th on the Green Party list, winning 1,631 votes. In 2008 she was ranked 13th and contested Christchurch East, winning 1,843 votes. On neither occasion was she elected.
In 2009, Mathers wrote submissions opposing clauses of the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill 2009 and arguing for the "setting of minimum environmental standards" across the country. "Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill: Submission by Mojo Mathers", Parliament of New Zealand She also wrote in opposition to the Climate Change Response (Moderated Emissions Trading) Amendment Bill 2009, arguing it "would substantially weaken the existing emissions trading scheme, reducing incentives to reduce emissions while providing large ongoing subsidies to climate polluters at enormous cost to the taxpayer". "Climate Change Response (Moderated Emissions Trading) Amendment Bill: Submission by Mojo Mathers", Parliament of New Zealand
In 2011, Mathers described her areas of policy interest as "rural issues, biodiversity, forestry and water, as well as animal welfare, disability and women's rights".
At the 2011 general election, she was number 14 on the list, and stood again in Christchurch East. She finished third in her constituency, with 4.5% of the electorate vote, "Christchurch East Electorate – Election 2011", New Zealand Herald but was elected as a list MP. "Greens 'ecstatic' to have 14 MPs", TVNZ, 10 December 2011 She suggested that "having sign language in Parliament" might help "enable the wider deaf community to access political debate". New Zealand Sign Language is already an official language of New Zealand but, unlike English and Māori, it was not represented in Parliament.
As an MP, Mathers was provided, after some delay, with an electronic note-keeping assistant. Speaker Lockwood Smith also said he "planned to develop a captioning service to make proceedings of the House more accessible to the hearing impaired" among the general public. "Mojo Mathers' funding approved", New Zealand Herald, 9 March 2012
During her two terms in parliament she held various spokesperson roles including Animal Welfare, Civil Defence, Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Disability Issues, Food and Natural Health. She served on the Commerce, Government Administration and Local Government and Environment select committees. In November 2015, a member's bill in Mathers' name which would establish an adjudicator to resolve disputes between supermarkets and suppliers was drawn. The bill was defeated at its first reading with the Green Party, Labour Party, NZ First and the Māori Party voting in support and the National Party, Act and United Future opposed.
Mathers lost her seat at the 2017 general election, despite no change in her list ranking, because the Green Party received a smaller share of the party vote. "'I know I made a difference' Mojo Mathers says as she's ousted from Parliament", Stuff.co.nz, 24 September 2017
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Profile at Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand website
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