Gen Y and Z step up
Sophie Handford has earned the title as one of New Zealand’s youngest councillors – despite none of her 10-strong campaign team voting for her.
It wasn’t because they didn’t want to but being too young to vote or living outside Ka¯piti meant they couldn’t.
Not even campaign manager Maha Fier could tick Handford’s box because she is only 17.
In total, six people in their 20s or younger secured seats on councils – knocking out some incumbents twice their age.
Handford and her team gathered at a friend’s house to track the results on Saturday but, as the hours without news ticked by, they decided to go to a barn dance at the Paeka¯ ka¯ riki hall.
It was there that she got a text message to say the mayor had been announced so she went outside and checked online to find out she had won.
Handford hit the headlines earlier this year as School Strike for Climate NZ co-ordinator. ‘‘We can’t leave it up to chance if we want to see action on climate change, if we want action for youth and their mental health.’’
Aleisha Rutherford, a Palmerston North councillor and member of the Local Government New Zealand young elected members committee, believed Handford may have been just been beaten to the title of the country’s youngest by Latham Martin.
Martin had just turned 18 when he previously won a seat on Westland District Council. Handford turned 18 in November last year.
Josh Trlin, 25, celebrated late into the night on Saturday after learning he was voted in as a councillor for Porirua. He will work alongside Nathan Waddle, also 25, who was also elected a councillor for the city.
Trlin, who recently finished a double degree in law and commerce at Victoria University, said his main aim would be putting together a comprehensive climate change plan. ‘‘It has got to be more than a box-ticking exercise. It has got to be meaningful.’’
For Teri O’Neill, 21, elected to
‘‘I am so excited to be part of a powerhouse of women.’’ Lambton ward councillor Tamatha Paul
the Matukairangi/Eastern ward of Wellington City Council, Saturday was a mixture of good and bad: good that she had got in but she was sad Justin Lester was no longer there. That meant a lot of the Labour support was gone.
But against that was the fact the new council was notably Leftleaning. ‘‘I think there’s definitely a movement,’’ she said with a hat-tip to the likes of Chloe Swarbrick and others who led the groundswell of young politicians at the last general elections.
O’Neill will serve alongside Tamatha Paul, 22, who won a seat for the Lambton ward.
Having 11 female councillors to work with was ‘‘incredible’’, Paul said. ‘‘I am so excited to be part of a powerhouse of women. I think we are going to have a really, really good term.’’
Campbell Barry in Lower Hutt was voted in as the youngest mayor in history. During the campaign, his age, 28, wasn’t an issue. ‘‘We need a mix of young and old, and different life experiences. I don’t think you would ever want just young people, or older people,’’he said.