Andy Foster (politician)
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. He became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1978. Foster later studied at Victoria University of Wellington, gaining a Bachelor of Arts in history and a Bachelor of  Commerce in business management. Political career. Local body politics. In the late 1980s Foster became politically active and joined the National Party and worked as a parliamentary researcher for National for three years. 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. 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. Foster stood as an independent in the 1996 New Zealand general election for . Foster has stood for Mayor of Wellington on three occasions; first in 2001, coming fourth and again in 2016 placing fifth. Foster announced his third campaign for the mayoralty at the 2019 local elections and gained endorsement from Sir Peter Jackson. In a surprise, he narrowly beat the one-term incumbent, Justin Lester, by 62 votes after special and last-minute votes had been counted. Lester became the first Wellington mayor in 33 years to  lose after just one term. Mayor of Wellington, 2019–present. Significant policies undertaken in his tenure have included the funding of the climate change "Te Atakura – First to Zero" action plan and the announcement that the council would move to ban private vehicles from main streets, increasing pedestrian space. In July 2021, Foster received acclaim from colleagues typically referenced as his political adversaries for his decision to light up the exterior of the council-owned Michael Fowler Centre with the colours of the transgender flag following confirmation a group considered by some to be transgender-exclusionary would speak there. In  addition, Foster attended a counter-rally with Labour Party councilors Fleur Fitzsimons and Teri O'Neill, draped in the transgender flag. In October 2021, Foster expressed disagreement with the Sixth Labour Government's Three Waters reform programme, which proposes transferring the management of water utilities from local councils to four new entities. 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. 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. Foster no longer belongs to the National Party and is a self described "Bluegreen", a conservative environmentalist. In the lead up to the general election Foster contemplated standing for Parliament as a candidate for New Zealand First. On 15 August 2017 he was confirmed as the New Zealand First candidate for the electorate. He was placed 18 on the party's list.