Daran Mark Ponter (born 20 February 1968) is a New Zealand local-body politician who on the 30th of October 2019 succeeded Chris Laidlaw as the chair of the

Greater Wellington Regional Council Wellington Regional Council, branded as Greater Wellington Regional Council, is the regional council overseeing the Wellington Region of New Zealand's lower North Island. It is responsible for public transport under the brand Metlink, environm ...

Biography

Early life

Ponter was born in Kitwe in Zambia's

Central Province, Zambia Central Province is one of Zambia's ten provinces. The provincial capital is Kabwe, which is the home of the Mulungushi Rock of Authority. Central Province has an area of . It borders eight other provinces and has eleven districts. The total a ...

. Soon after his birth his family relocated to Birmingham, United Kingdom and then to

Copenhagen, Denmark Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. In 1973 they moved to Suva, Fiji where he attended Veiuto Primary School. Arriving in New Zealand in 1980, Ponter attended

Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School (commonly known as PNINS - said PIN-INS) is a state coeducational intermediate school for year seven and year eight, boys and girls located in the central area of Palmerston North, New Zealand. Students ...

, followed by

Palmerston North Boys High School Palmerston North Boys' High School is a traditional boys school located in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Location Palmerston North Boys' High School has a campus located on Featherston Street between Rangitikei and North Streets in the central ...

. He was an

American Field Service AFS Intercultural Programs (or AFS, originally the American Field Service) is an international youth exchange organization. It consists of over 50 independent, not-for-profit organizations, each with its own network of volunteers, professional ...

exchange student to

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

in 1985/86. He studied sociology and geography at Massey University. He was a Massey scholar in 1989. After graduation he obtained a Masters of Public Policy from

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well kno ...

. Before politics he worked as a regional planner in the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaw ...

and public policy adviser in various ministries in Wellington, most notably

Te Puni Kōkiri Te Puni Kōkiri (TPK), the Ministry of Māori Development, is the principal policy advisor of the Government of New Zealand on Māori wellbeing and development. Te Puni Kōkiri was established under the Māori Development Act 1991 with responsib ...

. Later, he established and continues to run an independent public policy consultancy with his wife Vickie. Between 2000 and 2004 Ponter was instrumental in leading the establishment of the Maori Television Service for Te Puni Kokiri. Ponter has worked on seven Treaty of Waitangi settlements, including the settlement for the Waikato River and the Port Nicholson Block settlement in Wellington. He also led the negotiation of seven regional aquaculture agreements to recognise Maori commercial interests in aquaculture. In 2000 he was private secretary to

Parekura Horomia Parekura Tureia Horomia (9 November 1950 – 29 April 2013) was a New Zealand Labour Party politician who served as Minister of Māori Affairs between 2000 and 2008. Early life Horomia was born in Tolaga Bay of Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga Hauiti, ...

, Minister for Maori Development, and in 2018, private secretary to

Nanaia Mahuta Nanaia Cybele Mahuta (born 21 August 1970) is a New Zealand politician who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hauraki-Waikato and serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Sixth Labour Government since 2020. She is also the Minister o ...

, Minister for Maori Development.

Political career

Ponter first stood for office in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

where he unsuccessfully contested a seat on the

Wellington Regional Council Wellington Regional Council, branded as Greater Wellington Regional Council, is the regional council overseeing the Wellington Region of New Zealand's lower North Island. It is responsible for public transport under the brand Metlink, environm ...

as part of the Labour Party ticket. In 2001 he stood for the

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

in the Eastern Ward, but was again unsuccessful. He was first elected to the regional council in 2010 serving until 2013 when he failed to secure re-election. However he was appointed a council member again in April 2016 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of former chairperson

Fran Wilde Dame Frances Helen Wilde (née Kitching, born 11 November 1948) is a New Zealand politician, and former Wellington Labour member of parliament, Minister of Tourism and Mayor of Wellington. She was the first woman to serve as Mayor of Welling ...

. He was re-elected for two further terms in both 2016 and 2019. Following the 2019 elections he was elected chairperson of the council unopposed. In May 2020, the regional council confirmed all fares would be fully subsidised until the end of June, making all train and bus journeys free.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponter, Daran 1968 births Living people Zambian emigrants to New Zealand Massey University alumni 21st-century New Zealand politicians People from Kitwe People from Wellington City Victoria University of Wellington alumni Wellington regional councillors New Zealand Labour Party politicians