Celia Wade-Brown

Celia Wade-Brown

Celia Wade-Brown in 2013
34th Mayor of Wellington
Assumed office
27 October 2010[1]
Preceded by Kerry Prendergast
Personal details
Born (1956-07-12) 12 July 1956
Political party Green Party
Spouse(s) Alastair Nicholson (m. 16 January 1993)

Celia Wade-Brown (born 12 July 1956) is the 34th and current Mayor of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. She is the third female mayor of the city, replacing centre-right Kerry Prendergast. She defeated Prendergast by 176 votes in the 2010 single transferable vote mayoral election, winning a second term in 2013. She is the second mayor of a major New Zealand city to be a member of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, after Dunedin's Sukhi Turner, but she stood as an independent candidate. Wade-Brown is contesting the Wellington mayoralty in the 2016 local election for a third term.

Early life

Born in Paddington, West London, to a British military officer father Paul Wade-Brown,[2] Wade-Brown grew up in a council flat.[3] She attended The Holt School in Wokingham, Berkshire, England. After school, she took a gap year in Cape Coast, Ghana, then earned an honours degree in philosophy from the University of Nottingham. She started her professional life with IBM in the United Kingdom,[4] and moved to Wellington in 1983.[3]

As an adult, Wade-Brown discovered and connected with two half-sisters.[2] One half-sister Gitta Rupp was a German war child born to her father and a German mother.[5]

Political career

National politics 1996–2002

Wade-Brown first stood for the Green Party as a list candidate (ranked 44th) under the Alliance banner in the 1996 election.[6] In the 1999 election, she stood for the Green Party as a list candidate (ranked 29th).[7] In the 2002 election, she stood for the Green Party as a list candidate (ranked 15th)[8] in the Rongotai electorate and placed third.[9] She did not appear on the Green Party list for the 2005[10] or 2008[11] elections.

Local government politics 1994–current

Wade-Brown served as a Wellington City Councillor for the Southern Ward in 1994–1998 and 2001–2010.[3]

In 2010, she contested the mayoralty only, not standing as a councillor; Paul Eagle replaced her as a councillor. Six contenders ran for mayor:[4] Wade-Brown won by 24,881 votes to 24,705. She was ahead of Prendergast on a significant number of ballots from the four trailing candidates after they were eliminated, which allowed her to overcome Prendergast's initial lead of 21,809 to 18,560 in the first iteration.[12]

Wade-Brown does not favour Wellington's adopting a 'super city' type council like Auckland, though she supports reducing the number of councils in greater Wellington from nine to "three or four".[13]

The Wellington City Council came under criticism from the business community in April 2013 after the Council laid off 150 workers and approved $350,000 in renovations for the mayor's office, seemingly without the mayor and councillors knowing.[14]

After her re-election in October 2013, Wade-Brown listed priorities for the first 100 days as"the south coast cycle lanes, completing the draft annual plan before Christmas, agreeing on three-year priorities, taking first steps towards a living wage for council staff, slimming down council-owned companies and continuing to improve shared services with other councils".[15]

On 27 August 2014 Wade-Brown became an executive leader of Mayors for Peace.[16][17]

Community involvement

Wade-Brown was a founding member of the New Zealand Internet Society,[18] a non-profit organisation set up in 1995 dedicated to protecting and promoting the Internet in New Zealand.[19] In 2002 Wade-Brown founded Living Streets Aotearoa,[20] a walking-advocacy organisation with 15 branches. It holds collective membership of the International Federation of Pedestrians, of which she is a Board member.[21]

Wade-Brown is a Friend of Taputeranga Marine Reserve.[22]

Family

She is married to Alastair Nicholson and has two sons.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Celia Wade-Brown wins Wellington mayoralty". The National Business Review. 2010-10-13. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
  2. 1 2 http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8021813/Wellington-Mayor-finds-secret-sister
  3. 1 2 3 4 "New mayor for Wellington". The Dominion Post. 13 October 2010. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  4. 1 2 "Celia Wade-Brown". Election NZ. Archived from the original on 4 October 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
  5. ↑ "Occupation children shunned in post-war Germany and Austria". BBC News. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  6. ↑ "Part III - Party Lists of Successful Registered Parties" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  7. ↑ "Party Lists of Successful Registered Parties". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  8. ↑ "Party Lists of Successful Registered Parties". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  9. ↑ "Official Count Results -- Rongotai". 10 August 2002. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  10. ↑ "Party Lists of Successful Registered Parties". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  11. ↑ "Party Lists of Successful Registered Parties". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  12. ↑ Watts, Jerram (13 October 2010). "Celia Wade Brown wins Wellington". 3 News. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
  13. ↑ "No 'super city' for Wellington - mayor". 3 News NZ. January 28, 2013.
  14. ↑ "'Big job ahead' for struggling council". 3 News NZ. April 22, 2013. Earlier this month, the Wellington Chamber of Commerce described the council as a 'total shambles'.
  15. ↑ Chapman, Katie (14 October 2013). "Wade-Brown's talk is over, time for action". The Dominion Post. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  16. ↑ "Executive Leader for Peace". Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  17. ↑ "Members". Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  18. ↑ "Council through time". InternetNZ. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  19. ↑ "About InternetNZ". InternetNZ. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  20. ↑ "eBulletin September 2009". Living Streets Aotearoa. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  21. ↑ "Governance". International Federation of Pedestrians. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  22. ↑ "Friends of Taputeranga Marine Reserve". Taputeranga Marine Reserve. Retrieved 10 October 2010.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Celia Wade-Brown.
Political offices
Preceded by
Kerry Prendergast		 Mayor of Wellington
2010 – present 		Incumbent
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