Georgina Beyer at Te Papa late last year Georgina Beyer says she is hopeful of returning to politics by standing in the next round of local body elections. Beyer, who is an ex-borough councillor, mayor and was the world's first trans woman Member of Parliament, has spoken in the NZ Herald of her hopes for the future as well as her current struggle with chronic kidney failure which sees her undergoing dialysis every four hours. "Notwithstanding the kidneys, my goal now is to stand in the local body elections in 2016," she says, adding that she wants to continue making a contribution to society. "I can't just dismiss 20-odd years of experience professionally and in politics." Although she does not say where she would like to stand in the election, Beyer currently lives in central Wellington and says she was seriously considering standing for Wellington City Council when she was diagnosed with kidney failure early last year. Beyer has been frequently without work since she left Parliament and describes the worst aspects of being unemployed as "No work, no income, no life, no respect." However, she will be seen on next Tuesday evening's episode of TV2's Neighbours At War where she steps in to mediate between two feuding neighbours. She says her time in Parliament honed her mediation skills, chairing the social services committee "with Muriel Newman, Anne Tolley and Judith Collins. A grumpy Judith Tizard might turn up and then the claws would be out and I'd have to mediate that.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 28th February 2014 - 1:13am