Mark Robert Ball is a New Zealand politician and former

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

. He was mayor of the

Franklin District Franklin District was a New Zealand territorial authority that lay between the Auckland metropolitan area and the Waikato Plains. As a formal territory it was abolished on 31 October 2010 and divided between Auckland Council in the Auckland Reg ...

, in the

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

region, for six years until the position was disestablished in 2010. He currently serves as leader of the Heartland New Zealand Party.

Early life

Ball was a

for 17 years, policing the

South Auckland South Auckland is an imprecisely defined urban area of Auckland, New Zealand, with a young population, a relatively large Polynesian and Māori demographic, and lower incomes than other parts of Auckland. The name ''South Auckland'', though not ...

area. He later owned a business, which he sold when elected as a mayor.

Political career

Mayor of Franklin District

At the 2004 New Zealand local elections, Ball stood and won for the position of Mayor of Franklin. He was reelected at the 2007 local elections. In 2010, the Franklin District Council (along with the position of Mayor of Franklin) was abolished along with all other councils in the

Auckland region Auckland () is one of the sixteen regions of New Zealand, which takes its name from the eponymous urban area. The region encompasses the Auckland Metropolitan Area, smaller towns, rural areas, and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Containing ...

when they were merged to form the single

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 ...

. Unlike several of the other Auckland Mayors, Ball did not run in the

2010 Auckland mayoral election The 2010 Auckland mayoral election, was part of the 2010 New Zealand local elections. It was the first election of a mayor for the enlarged Auckland Council, informally known as the "super-city". The election was won by sitting mayor of Manukau ...

for the position of

Mayor of Auckland The Mayor of Auckland is the directly elected head of the Auckland Council, the local government authority for the Auckland Region in New Zealand, which it controls as a unitary authority. The position exists since October 2010 after the amalga ...

. The Franklin District Council had applied to remain a standalone council instead of being amalgamated into the larger Auckland council, although this request was denied by then Minister of Local Government

Rodney Hide Rodney Philip Hide (born 16 December 1956) is a former New Zealand politician of the ACT New Zealand party. Hide was a Member of Parliament for ACT from 1996 until 2011, was ACT's leader between 2004 and 2011, and represented the constituency f ...

. Ball stated he was "disappointed" with this decision. In a 2020 interview, a decade after the merger, Ball said that while there was no point going back to the multi-council structure, he believed a review of the supercity was needed, and that vital infrastructure in his region had been passed up in favour of upgrades in Auckland's CBD.

Heartland New Zealand

Mark Ball leads the Heartland New Zealand Party, which was registered with the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

in August 2020. Heartland is a rural-based party that opposes the

New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme The New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) is an all-gases partial-coverage uncapped domestic emissions trading scheme that features price floors, forestry offsetting, free allocation and auctioning of emissions units. The NZ ETS was fi ...

, the

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (french: Accord de Paris), often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, is an international treaty on climate change. Adopted in 2015, the agreement covers climate change mitigation, Climate change a ...

, and attempts to limit the environmental impacts of agriculture. Ball contested the

2020 New Zealand general election The 2020 New Zealand general election was held on Saturday 17 October 2020 to determine the composition of the 53rd parliament. Voters elected 120 members to the House of Representatives, 72 from single-member electorates and 48 from closed ...

for Heartland and was ranked first on its

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

of five. He was also the party's only electorate candidate, contesting the electorate of

Port Waikato Port Waikato is on the south bank of the Waikato River at its outflow into the Tasman Sea, in northern New Zealand. Port Waikato is a well-known surfing and whitebaiting destination and a popular holiday spot. Fish can be caught off the rocks ...

, which contains the Franklin area. Ball received 8,462 electorate votes (21% of the vote) and came third;

Andrew Bayly Andrew Henry Bayly (born 1962) is a New Zealand politician who was elected to the New Zealand Parliament at the 2014 general election as the MP for Hunua and a representative of the New Zealand National Party. Personal life Bayly was born in ...

won the electorate with 15,635 votes (38%). This was a surprisingly high result for a little known third party candidate. Since Ball, Heartland's only electorate candidate, did not win his electorate, and the party did not receive the required 5% of the party vote to enter Parliament, Heartland New Zealand did not gain any seats in the

New Zealand House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes Law of New Zealand, laws, provides Ministers of the New Zealand Government, ministers to form Cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet, and supervises the ...

Personal life

Ball is married to Catherine. They have three adult children and live in

Pukekohe Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, it is in South Auckland, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. Th ...

. In the

2013 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2013 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hon ...

, he was awarded the

Queen's Service Medal The Queen's Service Medal is a medal awarded by the government of New Zealand to recognise and reward volunteer service to the community and also public service in elected or appointed public office. It was established in 1975 and is related to ...

for services to the community.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Mark Living people Date of birth missing (living people) 21st-century New Zealand politicians New Zealand police officers New Zealand justices of the peace Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal Mayors of places in the Auckland Region Leaders of political parties in New Zealand Unsuccessful candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election Year of birth missing (living people)