Andrew Judd is a New Zealand local government politician and activist. He won the mayoralty of New Plymouth from one-term incumbent

Harry Duynhoven Harry James Duynhoven (born 1955) is a New Zealand politician and member of the New Zealand Labour Party. He was the mayor of the city of New Plymouth and surrounding districts from 2010–2013. He was a Member of Parliament for the New Plym ...

with a resounding 9,206 vote majority in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

and served one term before announcing he would not stand again in 2016.

Māori wards

In 2014 Judd caused controversy when he and his council supported the establishment of a special Māori ward in New Plymouth in a move intended to increase Māori representation, lift Iwi participation in council decision-making and fulfill

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the History of New Zealand, history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in ...

obligations. Judd also called for all councils in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

to have up to 50% Māori representation. The proposals were widely criticised by politicians and the media, with New Zealand First leader

Winston Peters Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician serving as the leader of New Zealand First since its foundation in 1993. Peters served as the 13th deputy prime minister of New Zealand from 1996 to 1998 and 2017 to 2020, ...

calling arguments for the ward "childish nonsense" and right-wing media personality

Mike Hosking Michael Noel James Hosking IV is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster who has worked for Radio New Zealand and TVNZ and from 2008 has been the weekday breakfast host on Newstalk ZB with "The Mike Hosking Breakfast". He is a supporter ...

labelling Judd "completely out of touch with middle New Zealand". In the months following a publicly-initiated referendum on the creation of a Māori ward, which Judd lost in a landslide, the Mayor spoke to media about "a man in a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

uniform" coming to see him, getting removed as a patron of a club, being abused walking down the street in a Santa parade and being spat on whilst out with family at a local supermarket. Judd, a

New Zealand European European New Zealanders, also known by the Māori-language loanword Pākehā, are New Zealanders of European descent. Most European New Zealanders are of British and Irish ancestry, with significantly smaller percentages of other European a ...

, labels himself a "recovering racist". However, Judd gained the admiration and recognition of notable political figures, including MP Marama Fox who called for his critics to apologise in a general debate speech before parliament. Support for Judd also flowed on social media, with a

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group named "Andrew Judd Fan Club" reaching 10,500 members.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Judd, Andrew Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Mayors of New Plymouth Māori Party politicians 21st-century New Zealand politicians