Deon William Swiggs (born 6 September 1986) is a New Zealand politician serving as the Environment Canterbury Councillor representing the Christchurch West/Ōpuna Regional Constituency. He previously served as the Christchurch City Councillor representing the Central ward from 2016 to 2019. Prior to Swiggs being elected, he was most well known for his participation in Rebuild Christchurch, an organisation founded after the

2010 Canterbury earthquake The 2010 Canterbury earthquake (also known as the Darfield earthquake) struck the South Island of New Zealand with a moment magnitude of 7.1 at on , and had a maximum perceived intensity of X (''Extreme'') on the Mercalli intensity scale. Som ...

Early life and up to 2019

Swiggs was born in

Nelson, New Zealand (Let him, who has earned it, bear the palm) , image_map = Nelson CC.PNG , mapsize = 200px , map_caption = , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = ...

, and is the oldest of three siblings. Until Swiggs was 5, he was raised at Parihaka Pa as a Christian. Swiggs was educated at

Marlborough Boys' College Marlborough Boys' College is a state single-sex secondary school in Blenheim, New Zealand. The school was established as Marlborough High School in 1899 (renamed Marlborough College in 1919). The school its current form in was established in 1963 ...

where he was a

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

. After graduating in 2004, Swiggs joined the

Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...

in 2005 as a navigation officer. Swiggs left the Navy in 2008 to pursue a career in the business sector. In 2008, Swiggs worked as a

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

agent for Harcourts in New Plymouth before transferring to Christchurch in 2009. He left the company in 2010 to form Swiggs Consulting Limited. Later in 2010, Swiggs was offered the position of South Island Accounts Manager at AdzUp. At the time of the

, Swiggs was working for AdzUp, two days later he founded Rebuild Christchurch, which collated information from a variety of sources and placed this information in an easy to understand format. Swiggs has been called one of the innovate new entrepreneurs born out of the Christchurch earthquakes. On 22 February 2011, Swiggs was in the AdzUp office located in the Christchurch CBD when the first earthquake struck. In April 2011, Swiggs was made redundant from AdzUp due to the earthquakes. From this time, Swiggs worked full-time on RebuildChristchurch.co.nz and studied on the side. In 2012, Swiggs was nominated for Young New Zealander of the Year. and was named alongside

Roger Sutton Roger Sutton (born ) is a business leader in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was chief executive of power lines company Orion New Zealand Limited from 2003 until 13 June 2011, when he commenced as CEO of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Author ...

and Bob Parker as a leader in the Canterbury Rebuild. Swiggs was accepted into a placement at the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology in February 2013 into a Bachelor of Applied Management. In March 2013, Swiggs Graduated from CPIT with Bachelor of Applied Management Majoring in Sales and Marketing and Graduate Diploma in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. ''The Press'' reported on 27 April 2013 that Swiggs was contemplating running for Councillor of the

Christchurch City Council The Christchurch City Council is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Mauger, who ...

. On 26 August 2013, Swiggs announced he had put his nomination forward for the Christchurch East by-election. On 22 September 2013 Swiggs found his nomination was unsuccessful. Poto Williams was selected and elected Member of Parliament. In July 2015, Swiggs and Christchurch broadcaster Chris Lynch along with award-winning filmmaker

Gerard Smyth Gerard Smyth (born 1951) is an Irish poet, born in Dublin in 1951 and began publishing poetry in the late 1960s when his first poems were published by David Marcus in the New Irish Writing Page of The Irish Press and by James Simmons in The Hon ...

spent a week interviewing various citizens of Christchurch about their views on the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Act draft transition recovery plan, which expired in April 2016. As of 28 July, the video, ''When a City Falls'', has been watched more than 30,000 times. On 31 May 2016, Swiggs announced that he would stand for

as an independent in the newly created Christchurch Central ward in the 2016 local body elections. On 8 October 2016, he was elected to the council. Swiggs was a founding trustee on the Canterbury Insurance Advocacy Service funded by council to advocate for people with insurance issues. Swiggs resigned as a trustee on 23 December 2016. In September 2019 Swiggs identified himself as the councillor accused of sending "grossly inappropriate", sexually explicit messages to young people, and made young people feel unsafe and uncomfortable through touching and other comments made at events. He denied any allegation of misconduct. Screenshots released by Swiggs on 3 October 2019 show some of the messages related to the complaint made by the Canterbury Youth Workers Collective. A preliminary investigation revealed that two of the complaints warranted further investigation, while a third complaint was referred to another agency, presumed to be the police. In the 2019 New Zealand local elections, Swiggs was unsuccessful in being re-elected.

Present

Presently, Swiggs is the chair of The Rebuild Build Christchurch Foundation, director of Rebuild Christchurch and the Councillor-Elect for the Christchurch West/Ōpuna Constituency for Environment Canterbury. Elected in the

2022 New Zealand local elections The 2022 New Zealand local elections were triennial elections held in New Zealand on Saturday 8 October 2022. Voting began by postal vote on 16 September and ended at noon on 8 October 2022. Election schedule Key dates relating to the general ...

, he joined Craig Pauling as Councillor for the Christchurch West/Ōpuna Constituency.

Projects

Swiggs has worked on the following projects; * Project Christmas * Lets Get It Done * Football in the Gap * The Canterbury Insurance Assistance Service * Buck Brings Back Marmite * A Beautiful Struggle * Christchurch Panoramas * Eyes East

Personal life

Swiggs was the first openly gay Christchurch councillor. He is a supporter of the LGBTQ community.

Awards

* Local Hero Award in New Zealander of the Year Awards * Christchurch City Council Service Award for Youth * Community Service Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swiggs, Deon Living people Christchurch City Councillors People associated with the 2011 Christchurch earthquake 1986 births People educated at Marlborough Boys' College Australian Institute of Business alumni