Paul Young is a New Zealand politician who was an Auckland Councillor and a board member of the

Counties Manukau District Health Board The Counties Manukau District Health Board (CM Health) was a district health board which focused on providing healthcare to the Counties Manukau area in southern Auckland, New Zealand. As of 2016, it ws responsible for 534,750 residents; or 11% ...

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 under the New Citizen Party and came third. He later contested the Botany seat in the 2011 general election and 2014 general election, while affiliated to the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. Young was unsuccessful in his attempts. He then ran again unsuccessfully to be Howick ward councillor in the 2016 Auckland local elections. He was elected to Auckland Council in a 2018 by-election, replacing the late

Dick Quax Theodorus Jacobus Leonardus "Dick" Quax (1 January 1948 – 28 May 2018) was a Dutch-born New Zealand runner, one-time world record holder in the 5000 metres, and local-body politician. Quax stood for Parliament for the ACT Party in 1999 and ...

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.

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