John Watson is a New Zealand politician who is a councillor on the

Auckland Council Auckland Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is ...

Education and early years

Watson has lived in

Hibiscus Coast The Hibiscus Coast is a populated area on a stretch of the Hauraki Gulf coast in New Zealand's Auckland Region. It has a population of making it the 11th most populous urban area in New Zealand, and the second most populous in the Auckland Re ...

and

East Coast Bays East Coast Bays is a string of small suburbs that form the northernmost part of the North Shore, part of the contiguous Auckland metropolitan area in New Zealand. The suburbs line the north-east coast of the city along the shore of the Haurak ...

his entire life. He attended

Westlake Boys High School Westlake Boys High School is a state secondary school for boys located in Forrest Hill, Auckland, New Zealand. The school opened in 1962, when Westlake High School (opened 1958) split into Westlake Girls High School on the existing site and We ...

, where he served as

head boy Head boy and head girl are student leadership roles in schools, representing the school's entire student body. They are normally the most senior prefects in the school. The terms are commonly used in the British education system as well as in Aus ...

, captain of 1st XI cricket, and a member of 1st XV rugby and athletics. He graduated from the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

with an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

(

Hons Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, or ...

) in history and worked as a secondary school teacher.

Political and community involvement

Watson has served as the President of the WRRA, the Trustee of Whangaparaoa Community Trust, a Rodney District Councillor and as a Hibiscus & Bays local board member. A

Rodney District Rodney District was a local government area in the northernmost part of New Zealand's Auckland Region from 1989 to 2010. It included Kawau Island. It was created from the amalgamation of Helensville, Helensville Borough and Rodney County, New Ze ...

councillor, Watson stood at the 2010 Auckland Council elections alongside Wayne Walker, finishing fourth. He stood again in the 2013 Auckland Council elections and was this time elected as an

Albany ward Hannam Edward Albany Ward (6 November 1879 – 18 February 1966), known as Albany Ward, was a pioneer English theatre proprietor and cinema developer, who ran one of the largest cinema circuits in Britain in the early part of the twentieth century ...

councillor. He was also re-elected to the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board, standing for "People & Penlink First".

Penlink O Mahurangi Penlink (''Peninsula Link'') is the name for the road currently under construction which will create a more direct and quicker route between the Whangaparāoa Peninsula and central Auckland in New Zealand. Concept The road would ...

is a proposed road that will improve transport links to the

Whangaparaoa Peninsula The Whangaparaoa Peninsula is a suburban area about 25 km north of Auckland, New Zealand. It had 30,672 residents in 2013, many of them in the eponymous town of Whangaparaoa on its southern side. It is part of the Hibiscus Coast. ...

. In his first term as an Auckland Councillor, Watson worked to reduce Auckland Council's spending and restrict rates increases by restricting the business-class air travel of councillors to health grounds only and voting against the controversial 10 year budget on 25 June 2015, which included a transport levy and 9.95% rates increase. He has also worked to improve transportation, improve and increase sports facilities and reserves, protect Auckland's heritage and environment and increase communication with Auckland residents. While Watson works together with Walker, they often differ in their positions, as when they voted differently on passing the 10 year budget. Watson and Walker were both re-elected during the 2016 Auckland elections. They were both re-elected again in 2019, and provisionally in 2022.

Awards

Watson has been awarded two Royal Society of NZ Teachers Fellowships, for producing a written account of a bomber crew who perished during World War II, and a written and oral history of

Whangaparaoa The Whangaparaoa Peninsula is a suburban area about 25 km north of Auckland, New Zealand. It had 30,672 residents in 2013, many of them in the eponymous town of Whangaparaoa on its southern side. It is part of the Hibiscus Coast. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, John Living people Auckland Councillors Rodney District Councillors New Zealand schoolteachers People educated at Westlake Boys High School University of Auckland alumni Year of birth missing (living people)