Penny Webster is a former mayor of

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 ...

and 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 ...

. As mayor of Rodney she headed one of the six main local government entities generally considered as making up the

Auckland metropolitan area Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about It ...

(

Auckland City Auckland City was a territorial authority with city status covering the central isthmus of the urban area of Auckland, New Zealand. It was governed by the Auckland City Council from 1989 to 2010, and as a territory within the wider Auckland R ...

Manukau City Manukau City was a territorial authority district in Auckland, New Zealand, that was governed by the Manukau City Council. The area is sometimes referred to as "South Auckland", although this term never possessed official recognition and does ...

Waitakere City Waitākere City was a territorial authority in West Auckland, New Zealand; it was governed by the Waitākere City Council from 1989 to 2010. It was New Zealand's fifth-largest city, with an annual growth of about 2%. In 2010 the council was a ...

North Shore City North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

Papakura District Papakura District was a local council territory in New Zealand's Auckland Region that was governed by the Papakura District Council from 1989 until 2010. The area makes up the southernmost part of the Auckland metropolitan area. The area was ...

), with her district being the northernmost entity. All of these entities were merged into the new Auckland Council in 2010. She was also a former New Zealand politician: an MP from 1999 to 2002, representing the

ACT New Zealand ACT New Zealand, known simply as ACT (), is a right-wing, classical-liberal political party in New Zealand. According to former party leader Rodney Hide, ACT's values are "individual freedom, personal responsibility, doing the best for our natur ...

party. Before entering politics, Webster was a

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

, and headed 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 ...

branch of the

Federated Farmers Federated Farmers of New Zealand is a lobby and advocacy group for all farmers: arable including fruit and vegetables, dairy and meat and their often remote communities. It has a network of 24 regional organisations and six industry groups. Fed ...

organisation.

Member of Parliament

She was first elected to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in the 1999 election, becoming a

list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs ...

. In the 2002 election, however, she was ranked in thirteenth place, a low position for a sitting MP.

Owen Jennings Owen Jennings is a former New Zealand politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1996 to 2002, representing the ACT New Zealand party. Early years Before entering politics, Jennings was a farmer. Jennings was active in New Zealand Federat ...

, another former farmer, was also ranked lowly, prompting some to suggest that ACT was not as interested in the rural vote as it might once have been. ACT did not win sufficient votes for thirteen seats, and so Webster did not return to

Local government

In 2007 Webster was elected Mayor of Rodney District. In December 2008 she was unanimously elected as the chair of the Auckland Mayoral Forum. In December 2008 she was also appointed by Environment Minister Nick Smith to sit on a technical advisory board on reforms to the Resource Management Act. In 2010 Webster was elected to the inaugural

, representing the Rodney Ward. She served as the Chairperson of the Strategy and Finance Committee. Webster was re-elected in 2013. At the 2016 elections, Webster was defeated by Greg Sayers.

Member of Parliament

Local government

References

Further reading