After leaving high school, she attended Victoria University of Wellington from 1993, graduating with a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology.

Remaining in the Wellington area, she worked as a scientist, leading a team at an environmental laboratory in Lower Hutt and from 2001 to 2004 was a member of the Petone Community Board.

[2] Her mother, Janet Mackey, also sat as a Labour MP until 2005 – the two formed the first mother-daughter pair in New Zealand parliamentary history.

Mackey unsuccessfully contested East Coast again in the 2008 general election, losing to Tolley by 6,413 votes.

The person higher, Maryan Street, announced she would decline the chance to return to Parliament.