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Andy Foster

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His Worship the Mayor
Andy Foster
36th Mayor of Wellington
Incumbent
Assumed office
30 October 2019
DeputySarah Free
Preceded byJustin Lester
Majority62
Wellington City Councillor for Onslow-Western Ward
In office
2004–2019
Wellington City Councillor for Western Ward
In office
1992–2004
Personal details
Born
Andrew John Whitfield Foster

(1961-12-21) 21 December 1961 (age 62)
Pembury, Kent, England
Political partyNew Zealand First (2017–present)
Other political
affiliations		National (until 1990s)
SpouseAnn
Children2
Alma materVictoria University of Wellington
Websiteandyfoster.org.nz

Andrew John Whitfield Foster (born 21 December 1961) is a New Zealand politician who currently serves as Mayor of Wellington. Foster is a member of New Zealand First, and has served on the Wellington City Council since 1992.

Biography

Early life

Foster was born on 21 December 1961 in Pembury, Kent, England, and moved with his family to New Zealand aged 5, settling in the Wellington suburb of Ngaio.[1][2] He became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1978.[2] Foster later studied at Victoria University of Wellington, gaining a Bachelor of Arts in history and a Bachelor of Commerce in business management.[1]

Political career

In the late 1980s Foster became politically active and joined the National Party and worked as a parliamentary researcher for National for three years.[1] When party colleagues were looking for people to stand in local government, Foster accepted nomination and stood for election in the 1992 local elections for the Wellington City Council on a Citizens' ticket. He was successful winning a seat from the Western Ward.[3] He held a seat in the Western Ward until 2004 when local electoral boundaries were re-drawn and he stood for the newly created Onslow-Western Ward and has held a seat from there ever since.[4] Foster stood as an independent in the 1996 New Zealand general election for Wellington Central.[5]

Foster has stood for Mayor of Wellington on three occasions; first in 2001, coming fourth and again in 2016 placing fifth.[6][7] Foster announced his third campaign for the mayoralty at the 2019 local elections and gained endorsement from Sir Peter Jackson.[8] In a surprise, he narrowly beat the one-term incumbent, Justin Lester, by 62 votes after special and last-minute votes had been counted.[9]

Other political activities

Foster is also the president of TRAFINZ, a group representing local authority views in New Zealand regarding road safety and traffic management.[10] He has also been involved with the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary Trust, Karori Sports Club, Karori Brooklyn Community Trust and held directorships with Capital Power, Wellington International Airport and Capacity Infrastructure.[11]

Foster no longer belongs to the National Party and is a self described "Bluegreen", a conservative environmentalist.[1] In the lead up to the 2017 general election Foster contemplated standing for Parliament as a candidate for New Zealand First.[12] On 15 August 2017 he was confirmed as the New Zealand First candidate for the Wellington Central electorate.[11] He was placed 18 on the party's list.[13] On 12 October 2019, Foster was elected Mayor of Wellington, defeating incumbent Justin Lester.[14][15][16] Lester became the first Wellington mayor in 33 years to lose after just one term.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d MacDonald, Nikki (22 August 2016). "Wellington mayoral candidate profile: Andy Foster". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  2. ^ a b "New Zealand, naturalisations, 1843–1981". Ancestry.com Operations. 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  3. ^ Bly, Ross (1992). City of Wellington: Local Body Elections, 1992 (Report). Wellington City Council.
  4. ^ Forbes, Michael (20 July 2016). "Wellington mayoral contest heats up as councillor Andy Foster joins the race". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  5. ^ "Young, Green and Keen" in The Evening Post 10 July 2001 p1
  6. ^ "Election Results – 2001". Wellington City Council. Archived from the original on 1 October 2006. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  7. ^ "Election 2016: Preliminary results for the Mayor". Wellington City Council. Archived from the original on 10 October 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  8. ^ "Sir Peter Jackson backs Andy Foster for Wellington mayoralty". Stuff.co.nz. 16 August 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  9. ^ "Wellington Mayor Andy Foster wins by just 62 votes". The New Zealand Herald. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  10. ^ "About us". TRAFINZ. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  11. ^ a b "New Zealand First announces Wellington region candidates". Scoop.co.nz. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  12. ^ Devlin, Colette (27 June 2017). "Wellington city councillor Andy Foster chasing seat in Parliament with NZ First". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  13. ^ "The NZ First Party list for the 2017 General Election". Scoop.co.nz. 29 August 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  14. ^ "As it happened: New Zealand local body election results 2019" – via www.newshub.co.nz.
  15. ^ Braae, Alex (12 October 2019). "Live blog: Results of the 2019 local elections".
  16. ^ a b Donnell, Hayden (13 October 2019). "Winners, losers, big losers, and gigantic losers from the 2019 local elections".
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