William Raymond Wallace (born 1961) is a New Zealand politician. He served as

mayor of Lower Hutt The city of Lower Hutt, New Zealand, was first proclaimed a borough on 1 February 1891. Prior to this it had been part of Hutt County, initially as a Roads Board and from 1881 as a Town Board. Since 2019, the mayor has been Campbell Barry. Li ...

from 2010 to 2019.

Biography

Early life

Wallace was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, in 1961. He received his education at Te Aro Primary, St Mark's Church School and

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin * Wellington College, Wellington, Ne ...

. He has worked in real estate, health care, and the security industry. Wallace is married and lives in

Wainuiomata Wainuiomata () is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, in the Wellington Region of New Zealand's North Island. Origin of name The word 'Wainui-o-mata' is a Māori name made up of the words Wai = water, Nui = big, O = of, and Mata – which could refer ...

Political career

Wallace stood for the National Party in the seat of

Pencarrow Pencarrow ( kw, Pennkarow) is a Grade II*-listed country house in the civil parish of Egloshayle, in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated three miles (5 km) east-southeast of Wadebridge and three miles (5 km) nort ...

(which covered much of Lower Hutt) at the 1990 general election. He lost to Labour's

Sonja Davies Sonja Margaret Loveday Davies (née Vile; 11 November 1923 – 12 June 2005) was a New Zealand trade unionist, peace campaigner, and Member of Parliament. On 6 February 1987, Davies was the third appointee to the Order of New Zealand."The ...

. Wallace was first elected to Hutt City Council in the Wainuiomata ward in a 1995 by-election, he served as deputy mayor from 2001 to 2004. Wallace first challenged incumbent David Ogden for the mayoralty in 2007 and came a close second in the three-person race. In the 2010 election, only Ogden and Wallace contested the mayoralty, and the latter won with a healthy majority. He won re-election in the 2013 local elections, achieving a significant majority over his only rival, Phil Stratford. Wallace and Stratford received 20,540 and 3,166 votes, respectively. Wallace was known for his staunch opposition to "Super Cities" in New Zealand and fought against the proposal for one to occur in Wellington. In 2016 Wallace was re-elected to the mayoralty for a third term, 17,011 votes ahead of his nearest rival, James Anderson. In June 2017 Wallace hit media headlines for his decision to retain rate payer funded meals. The motion was raised by Councillor Campbell Barry who believed elected members should pay for their own meals after the Council decided to introduce what he called "a sham Living Wage Policy". After a 7–6 vote, with Wallace voting in favour of retaining the meals, a public backlash engulfed the Council in controversy. Wallace was defeated for the mayoralty by Labour Party councillor Campbell Barry at the 2019 local elections.

Post politics

Following his mayoral defeat he entered work as a real estate agent. Ray Wallace ONZM investiture

In the 2021 New Year Honours, Wallace was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to local government and the community.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace, Ray 1961 births Living people Mayors of Lower Hutt Deputy mayors of places in New Zealand Scottish emigrants to New Zealand People educated at Wellington College (New Zealand) Unsuccessful candidates in the 1990 New Zealand general election New Zealand National Party politicians People from Kirkcaldy Hutt City Councillors Hutt Valley District Health Board members Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand justices of the peace