Paul Young is a New Zealand politician who was an Auckland Councillor and a board member of the Counties Manukau District Health Board.

Early life and education

Then aged 25, Young immigrated from Taiwan in 1989. The councillor operates his own business "Paul Young International", which operates events around New Zealand. He studied marketing at the University of Auckland and is married with two children.

Political career

Young contested the

2011 Botany by-election A List of New Zealand by-elections, by-election was held in the New Zealand electorates, New Zealand electorate of Botany (New Zealand electorate), Botany on 5 March 2011. The seat was vacated by former National Ethnic Affairs Minister Pansy Wong ...

under the

New Citizen Party The New Citizen Party was a political party in New Zealand that aimed to represent Chinese New Zealanders and had a focus on economic and law-and-order issues. Auckland businessman Paul Young, former New Zealand Labour Party list-candidate Steph ...

and came third. He later contested the Botany seat in the 2011 general election and 2014 general election, while affiliated to the Conservative Party. Young was unsuccessful in his attempts. He then ran again unsuccessfully to be Howick ward councillor in the

2016 Auckland local elections The 2016 Auckland local elections took place between September and October 2016 by postal vote. The elections were the third since the merger of seven councils into the Auckland Council, which is composed of the mayor and 20 councillors, and 149 ...

. He was elected to Auckland Council in a 2018 by-election, replacing the late Dick Quax in the Howick ward. Young was Auckland's first Chinese councillor. The politician was then re-elected to the council in the

2019 Auckland local elections The 2019 Auckland local elections took place between September and October 2019 by postal vote as part of nation-wide local elections. The elections were the fourth since the merger of seven councils into the Auckland Council, which is composed ...

. In 2019, Young's promotional material was subject to graffiti, which accused him of being associated with the Chinese Communist Party, with the attacks being described as "racist" in nature. During the campaign, he had been a keen advocate of "trackless trams". In his tenure, Young opposed the regional fuel tax and the sale of council-owned parks in his ward. Meanwhile, he advocated to speed up delivery of the Eastern Busway project, voted to support climate change action through improving public transport, and supported cycleway construction in the city. He has also advocated to increase the speed of Covid-19 vaccination uptake in Asian communities. He was unsuccessful in re-election in the

2022 Auckland local elections The 2022 Auckland local elections took place between September and October 2022 by postal vote as part of nation-wide local elections. The elections were the fifth since the merger of seven councils into the Auckland Council, which is composed o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Paul Living people Auckland Councillors Year of birth missing (living people) New Zealand businesspeople New Conservative Party (New Zealand) politicians Unsuccessful candidates in the 2011 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2014 New Zealand general election Counties Manukau District Health Board members