If someone told Victoria Short when she was 18 and pregnant that she’d one day become an Auckland councillor, she wouldn’t have believed them.
“It’s shaped me into who I am today, and I wouldn’t change a thing,” Short said.
Short, 34, shared her life story and the road to being the “fricken councillor for Albany” alongside four other newly elected Auckland officials on Tuesday.
Bo Burns’ journey to become a councillor was about hard work, not university; Dr Sarah Paterson-Hamlin is possibly the first councillor to hold a PhD (in literature); John Gillon brought a long to-do list to the table, and Matt Winiata noted the new faces make up 25% of the governing body, each with their own worldview to benefit the city of Auckland.
But it was Short’s story that stole the show – and one she said she’d never shared publicly before. It began with her family, a father from the UK and a mother from the tiny Pacific island of Kiribati, one of eight children – and later marked by her being asked to leave Long Bay College after her grades and attendance flat-lined. It was a story she’d never shared publicly before.
This was followed by getting pregnant at 18, and ”a relationship steeped in fear, manipulation, domestic violence and isolation”, dipping in and out of university and jobs and raising a daughter.
During this time, a job came up to work for local MP Murray McCully – “he gave me a chance ... and I found myself consumed in the world of central politics”.
In early 2019, Short found she was losing the passion for the role, and with a deep love for helping the community, she ran and won a seat on the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board.
While on the board and raising two girls, Short returned to university to upskill and invest in her education, and ended up loving accountancy, finance and governance.
“If you were to tell me when I was 18, pregnant, no job and had no money that I would become a friken councillor for Albany, an accountant, the first person of Kiribati descent elected to a government position in New Zealand history, I wouldn’t have believed you.
“I’ve survived the hardest parts life could throw at me ... this is the fun part. This is where I get to use all of my life experience and academic studies to shape the future of our amazing city.
“I am so optimistic for the future of Auckland, a city, a community that has entrusted a once naive Kiribati girl from little old Torbay with a seat around this table.”
Bo Burns said her journey started from the ground up – no university, no handouts, but working hard, holding on to core values and beliefs, caring deeply about her community and its people.
“I’m a business owner, a wife, a mum, a sports coach, a business mentor and a community connector. I’ve spent my life giving back – volunteering, fundraising, sitting on PTAs, industry boards, supporting sports clubs, mentoring youth, and advocating for local business owners.
“My vision is simple: A city people not only want to live in, but love and feel proud of.
“Too often I hear people say, ‘I don’t want to live here anymore’. That breaks my heart.”
Burns called for a city where local decisions were made locally, saying blanket approaches and initiatives such as Plan Change 120 (providing housing capacity fortwo million homes over several decades) will never work for different communities.
“For some it suits, and for some it will decimate not only places people long to live, but put even more pressure on our ageing infrastructure and our environment.”
Among her priorities were reviewing the structure and framework of rates, community facilities for Flat Bush and Ormiston, supporting sports clubs, parking solutions for places like Half Moon Bay, delivering events and tourism initiatives in East Auckland, and a focus on core services and value for money.
John Gillon comes from a family steeped in local and national politics, having been first elected to the Glenfield community board in 2007 and serving as a long-time member and chair of the Kaipātiki Local Board.
The Beach Haven father of two daughters set out a long list of issues he wants to “sink my teeth into this term”, ranging from fairer funding for local boards to chip seal that “the public hate”, and rolling out shade sails over all of the city’s playgrounds.
“Shade sails are extremely important as they protect children from the sun, but also prevent the equipment from getting scorching hot.”
On the hustings, Gillon said the top priority for many people was to fix Lake Rd, which was not surprising because options had been consulted on almost 10 years ago.
With the 2023 storms still vivid in people’s minds, Gillon said the Milford area and wider Wairau catchment were a high priority, and called for increased preventative maintenance of stormwater infrastructure, including keeping channels and streams clear of rubbish.
“This term I will be promoting the opportunity to create a fantastic new inner harbour, headland regional park, by combining three Birkenhead parks – Chelsea Estate Heritage Park, Kauri Point Centennial Park, and Chatsworth Reserve.”
A community concern across Auckland right now, said Gillon, is Plan Change 120, and the “radical changes proposed for our neighbourhoods to accommodate the Government foisting unrealistic capacity on Auckland”.
Dr Sarah Paterson-Hamlin said it was an honour and a duty to represent the needs and aspirations of Auckland’s tangata whaikaha, disabled people.
“As an autistic/ADHD councillor, I may do things a little differently – make a bit less eye contact, miss some social cues, need a little more structure, and take things a bit more literally. But there will be strengths I will bring to this table as a result of neurodiversity, too.
“We will all experience disability at some point in our lives. From a temporary sprained ankle to a life-limiting illness, no one moves through this life entirely unimpaired.
“There are simple things we can do along the way as well as the big and bold ones to make Auckland a global leader in accessibility, for our visitors and our residents,” she said.
The daughter of immigrants from Zimbabwe – a Presbyterian Minister and a maths teacher – themselves the children of immigrants from the United Kingdom, she recalled her time at the University of Otago with an apprenticeship at the Otago Museum, learning mummification rituals and how best to feed a tarantula in front of a crowd.
“I ended up at the University of Glasgow, doing a PhD in literature … it was at the conclusion of this PhD that I moved to Auckland. It was Christmas 2016, which means the only version of Auckland I have ever lived in has been the Super City.”
Top of Paterson-Hamlin’s “local shopping list” is the new Whau pool, and retaining the Avondale Racecourse for the mental and physical health of residents and beyond, not to mention the beloved Sunday markets.
The former Manurewa Local Board chairman said the council should be fiscally responsible, but noted: “We aren’t in the money business, we are in the smiles business.”
“Bike hubs, community events, concerts, skate parks, playgrounds, sports fields, activations and pop-ups – visit any of these and you’ll see smiles on faces and the light in the hearts of our communities burning bright.”
If the council is looking to get out of these, Matt Winiata said, the creative spark of communities will wane and potentially disappear.
Winiata was another new councillor to question Plan Change 120.
“Can we accommodate this? Do we have enough parks and sports fields? Do we have the space for more schools with the impending population growth that PC120 insists that we provide for?
“Are we seeding clouds for a storm, or are we seeding the forest of a better tomorrow?”
Winiata said dog attacks are destroying communities and keeping kids in fear just from walking to school.
There’s illegal dumping from those without a care or consideration for the environment and community, he said, saying rubbish collections should not become fortnightly and remain weekly.
“Kids are huffing on laughing gas in quantities that are bringing tears to the hearts of the families it is destroying,” he said.
“I ask that we listen more than we speak, we come prepared, and we trust in ourselves and each other to be who the community need us to be.”
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