Name Ann Batten | Role Politician | |
 | ||
Ann Batten (born 27 April 1944) is an Anglican priest, peace activist and a former New Zealand politician. She has been a member of various political parties and represented New Zealand First and Mauri Pacific in Parliament.
Batten is originally from South Auckland. In 1995, she headed an anti-nuclear protest to French Polynesia.
Member of Parliament
Batten was a supporter of the Labour Party and unsuccessfully stood in the Clevedon and Glenfield electorates in the 1990 and 1993 elections. She was then selected by the Labour Party to contest the Albany electorate in the 1996 election. She resigned from the Labour Party in March 1996 and joined New Zealand First, which gave her a high list ranking of 3rd place and let her contest the North Shore electorate. She came fifth in the electorate vote, but was one of 11 list candidates of her party who entered Parliament.
In 1998, when New Zealand First splintered, Batten was one of the eight MPs who left the party. She eventually joined with four other MPs to form the Mauri Pacific party. In the 1999 election, she was ranked fifth on Mauri Pacific's list, but the party failed to win any seats.
Since leaving Parliament, Batten has been involved in broadcasting.