Tania Tapsell (born 22 September 1992) is a New Zealand politician. She has served on the

Rotorua Lakes District Rotorua Lakes District or Rotorua District is a Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority district in the North Island of New Zealand. It has one urban area of significant size, the city of Rotorua. The district is governed b ...

Council since 2013 and was elected

mayor of Rotorua The Mayor of Rotorua officiates over the Rotorua Lakes district of New Zealand, which is administered by the Rotorua Lakes Council (RLC), whose seat is in Rotorua. An elected borough council first came together in February 1923; prior to that, t ...

at the 2022 local elections. She is the first woman of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

descent to hold the role.

Early life

Tapsell was born and raised in

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

. She attended Rotorua Girls' High School but left at age 16 in order to attend Waiariki Institute of Technology, where she got diplomas in business and marketing. She achieved a Bachelor of Management Studies Degree from the

University of Waikato The University of Waikato ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato), is a Public university, public research university in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand established in 1964. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university perfo ...

Political career

At age 14, Tapsell served on Rotorua's youth council. In 2010, she was selected by

Todd McClay Todd Michael McClay (born 22 November 1968) is a New Zealand politician and former ambassador. He is the Member of Parliament for Rotorua. He was previously an ambassador for the Cook Islands and Niue to the European Union. Early life McClay ...

to represent the Rotorua electorate at the

New Zealand Youth Parliament The New Zealand Youth Parliament, held once in each term of parliament (usually every three or four years), is an event used to promote the civic and community engagement of New Zealand youth. The event has been held since 1994, and takes place a ...

. In 2013, Tapsell was elected to the

Council. At 21, she was the youngest councillor ever elected, until the election of 19 year old Fisher Wang in 2019. In 2016 and 2019 she was re-elected as the highest polling candidate. During the 2019 election, Tapsell accused mayoral candidate Reynold MacPherson of hate speech after a Facebook post comparing her to the

Pied Piper of Hamelin The Pied Piper of Hamelin (german: der Rattenfänger von Hameln, also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany. The legend dates back to ...

. The council made a formal complaint to the police, which was criticised by the

Free Speech Coalition The Free Speech Coalition (FSC) is a non-profit industry trade group, trade association of the pornography and Sex industry, adult entertainment industry in the United States. Founded in 1991, it opposes the passage and enforcement of obscenity l ...

as a violation of the

bill of rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...

. She voted against the adoption of Māori wards in 2021, arguing that while some councils may need them to ensure representation, Rotorua did not. Tapsell marched with students during the

School Strike for Climate School Strike for Climate ( sv, Skolstrejk för klimatet), also known variously as Fridays for Future (FFF), Youth for Climate, Climate Strike or Youth Strike for Climate, is an international movement of school students who skip Friday ...

in 2019, however she believes farmers should be excluded from the

Zero Carbon Act 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation such as the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, 0 also serves as a placeholder numerical digit, which works by multiplying digits to the left of 0 by the radix, usual ...

. On 6 June 2020, Tapsell was selected as the National Party candidate for the East Coast electorate, having been a member of the party since she was a teen. At the 2020 general election, she failed to retain the seat for National, losing to

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Kiri Allan Kiritapu Lyndsay Allan (born 1984) is a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament (MP) in the New Zealand House of Representatives. A member of the Labour Party, she entered the House as a list MP in 2017, and won the East Coast electora ...

. She expressed interest in running again at the next general election. She was speculated by the media as a possible candidate in the

2022 Tauranga by-election The 2022 Tauranga by-election for the New Zealand House of Representatives was held on 18 June 2022 in the Tauranga (New Zealand electorate), Tauranga electorate, after the sitting member, former New Zealand National Party, National Party leader ...

, but declined. On 10 May 2022, Tapsell announced that she would run for

. Tapsell announced she would name fellow Councillor Sandra Kai Fong as deputy mayor if both are elected to the council in the October local election.

Personal life

Tapsell married Kanin Clancy on 1 December 2020. Her iwi are

Te Arawa Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes) of New Zealand who trace their ancestry to the Arawa migration canoe (''waka'').Ngāti Whakaue Ngāti Whakaue is a Māori iwi, of the Te Arawa confederation of New Zealand. The tribe lives in the Rotorua district and descends from the Arawa waka. The Ngāti Whakaue village Ōhinemutu is within the township of Rotorua. Ngāti Whakaue tra ...

, and she has

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

ancestry as a descendent of

Phillip Tapsell Phillip Tapsell, born Hans Homan Jensen Falk (1777/1791? – 6 or 7 August 1873) was a Danish mariner, whaler, and trader who settled in New Zealand. Tapsell first arrived in New Zealand at the Bay of Islands on the ''New Zealander'' on 26 March 1 ...

. She is the great niece of former Labour MP and Speaker of the House Sir Peter Tapsell.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tapsell, Tania 1992 births Living people People from Rotorua New Zealand Māori women Mayors of Rotorua Māori mayors Māori politicians New Zealand National Party politicians 21st-century New Zealand women politicians Women mayors of places in New Zealand Unsuccessful candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election People educated at Rotorua Girls' High School University of Waikato alumni New Zealand Youth MPs Ngāti Whakaue people Te Rarawa people New Zealand people of Danish descent