Failed Wellington mayoral candidate trespassed from Upper Hutt council offices

The Upper Hutt City Council has trespassed failed Wellington mayoral candidate Graham Bloxham from its offices. Photo / David Unwin, The Post

The Upper Hutt City Council has trespassed failed Wellington mayoral candidate and controversial social media figure Graham Bloxham from its offices.

A council spokesperson confirmed a trespass notice was issued late last week, but did not elaborate.

Bloxham, best known for running social media site Wellington Live, entangled himself in Upper Hutt’s mayoral race – won by Peri Zee over incumbent Wayne Guppy – after dropping out of the running for the Wellington City job at last year’s election before nominations closed.

Bloxham endorsed Guppy, posting a video interview with the eight-term mayor, but said he did so of his own volition. Guppy paid Bloxham’s company Wellington In Your Pocket more than $9300 for social media and advertising services in the election three years before, but Guppy said he wasn’t involved in the 2025 campaign.

Bloxham accused Zee of “pumping up you [sic] ‘aggressive troll’ follower base” over an assumption he was running Guppy’s campaign. “That is defamatory. And I will take steps, legally if necessary if you continue. I hold you ‘Personally’ responsible,” he wrote in an email, copying in a reporter from The Post.

Bloxham did not respond to a request for comment on the trespass notice.

In an official information request for a copy of all council communications mentioning him by name, which was forwarded to a reporter, Bloxham said: “Peri Zees has repeatedly said she feels unsafe around me. I have not done anything to cause this un usual behaviour from a public leader, believe this is done by Zees, to give her worship a victim stage [sic].”

Police arrested Bloxham and two others after a scuffle at a protest against the US military operation in Venezuela in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Lambton Quay in mid-January but did not file charges.

Bloxham live-posted details from a private Wellington City Council media training session last November, when councillor Ray Chung left an open phone line to him for 40 minutes.

He has claimed to have sold Wellington Live, but remained at the forefront of its social media posts. There have been no new posts on its Facebook page since January 13.

The next Upper Hutt council meeting was today at 3.30pm.

Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.