Tamatha Paul

Tamatha-Kaye Erin Paul (born 8 June 1997) is a New Zealand activist and politician who currently serves in the Wellington City Council. Paul was elected to the council following the 2019 Wellington local elections.^[1] Prior to this, Paul was the 2019 President of the Victoria University of Wellington Students Association, making her the second Māori^[2] and first female Māori to be elected to the role.^[3]

Biography[]

Early life[]

Tamatha-Kaye Erin Paul, was born in South Auckland in 1997, however later moved with her family to the agricultural town of Tokoroa. Paul attended primary, intermediate and high schooling in Tokoroa, achieving dux of Tokoroa High School in 2015.^[4] Paul received a $30,000 ‘First in Family’ scholarship from Victoria University of Wellington to study Political Science and International Relations. Paul now resides in the Wellington suburb of Aro Valley.

In 2018, Paul graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Political Science. In addition, Paul also received the Andrea Brander Accommodation Scholarship, the James MacIntosh Scholarship for achievement, and was on the Dean’s List for Academic Excellence.^[5]

Paul is of both Maori and European descent, with her father of Waikato Tainui and Ngāti Awa origin, while her mother is of English, Scottish and Spanish genealogy.

Paul suffers from the auto-immune disease lupus. At 12-years-old, Tamatha was diagnosed as the youngest person in the Waikato region with this systemic disease.^[4]

Political career[]

Victoria University of Wellington Students Association[]

In 2016, Paul was elected as Equity Officer, gaining 2070 votes of a total 3311 cast.^[6]

In 2017, Paul was elected Engagement Vice-President, gaining 1787 votes of a total 2662 cast.^[7]

In 2018, Paul was elected to the position of President of Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association, gaining 1701 votes of a total 2951 cast.^[8] Paul was the first female Maori and second Maori^[2] to serve in this position in the history of the student union. During her time as president, Paul worked alongside a number of community organisations on issues such as renting, city safety, and mental health.

Wellington City Council[]

Wellington City Council candidates for the Lambton Ward at the 2019 Aro Valley candidates meeting

In 2019, Paul was elected to the position of Wellington City Councilor for the Lambton Ward, gaining 2,770 votes.^[9] Paul campaigned on issues such as environmental policy, representation for minority and youth communities, and an aspiration for a living wage policy. Paul says she was inspired by Chlöe Swarbrick and her Auckland mayoral campaign in 2016.^[2]

Paul was considered part of a 'youthquake', a movement of young people in New Zealand running for local government in 2019.^[10][11][12] This included 6 Wellingtonians under 25 running campaigns for local councils. Chlöe Swarbrick has in part inspired this and shown support. This included Teri O’Neill for Wellington City Council’s Eastern Ward, Joshua Trlin and Rabeea Inayatullah for Porirua City Council’s Northern Ward, Sophie Handford for Kapiti Coast District Council, and Victoria Rhodes-Carlin for Greater Wellington Regional Council.^[13] Tamatha Paul, Teri O'Neill,^[14] Joshua Trlin,^[15] and Sophia Handford^[16] were successfully elected.

In 2020, Paul told Stuff that a run for the mayoralty was “definitely something that I’m thinking about”. Though she said she had been frustrated during at realising the lack of power the council had to make significant changes, so was unsure if a run for mayor would make any difference. “It frustrates me how little resource and decision-making power we have to deliver for Wellingtonians in areas like climate change, housing and transport ... There are more ambitious and aspirational things I wanted to be able to do on the council.”^[17]

Controversy[]

Wellington Draft Spatial Plan Comments[]

In November 2020, Paul caused some degree of controversy due to a reply to a video response by a group of Mount Victoria residents regarding the Wellington City Council's draft spatial plan.^[18] The plan proposed removing demolition protections for many pre-1930s buildings and allowing new builds up to four levels in parts of the suburb outside designated character “sub-areas”. The group opposed medium-density housing in the suburb as they believed it would lead to unaffordable housing for people currently living in the area.^[19]

“Shout out to these absolute knobs in the bottom right corner who said they enjoy living in Mt Vic cos the poor people live ‘out there’ and the wealthy people live ‘over here’ and it’s good for networking,”

Paul told Stuff News she believed the comments were arrogant and were an example of “white privilege”.

Royal Gun Salute and Waitangi Day[]

In February 2021, Paul caused controversy by suggesting the timing of a 21 gun salute in honour of the Queen of New Zealand, Elizabeth II, was misplaced, due to taking place on the same day as Waitangi Day.^[20] Typically gun salutes came from naval tradition where a warship would fire its cannons until all ammunition aboard was spent, demonstrating it was disarmed and it had no hostile intent. On 2 January 2021, the New Zealand Defence Force announced it would be firing a 21-gun salute at the Point Jerningham saluting battery in Wellington.

Paul stated:

“The whole salute itself is really aggressive; it shows the dominance of the Crown when it's meant to be a day of partnership,”

In a statement, a New Zealand Defence Force spokesman said the Queen’s accession had been marked in New Zealand and around the British Commonwealth since the death of her father. The spokesman stated:

“The 21-gun salute on the accession anniversary is carried out on behalf of the New Zealand Government, It is coincidental that the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession occurs on 6 February, on the same day as Waitangi Day.”

See also[]

• Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association
• Wellington City Council

References[]

External links[]

• Wellington City Council