Sat 8 Oct 2016 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Richard Hills Auckland City looks set to have the first openly-gay councilor in the short history of the super city. Richard Hills, a gay man who has had strong involvement in glbti issues and especially those affecting young glbti people, has a narrow lead over Grant Gillon for one of two North Shore positions on Council. Hills, who stood unsuccessfully as a Labour candidate in the 2014 general election, leads Gillon by 11785 votes to 11714, a margin of just 71. Special votes are yet to be counted so the result may go right down to the wire and not finally be known until October 13 when all counting must be finalised. Long-time Local Board member Simon Randall, who stood down this year, says he is right behind Hills and will be thrilled if the final result sees him on the city's governing board. "I've worked with Richard very closely, he's impressive and it will be very good to have somebody openly gay on the council of our biggest, gayest city," he says. "It will be good to have someone on council who knows our communities' issues and is part of the city's decision making. And having out and proud people at the top sends a strong message to everyone that our city is inclusive and all groups are important. If Hills should be pipped to the post for the council position he will still have influence in city affairs as he is by far the highest polling candidate for the Kaipatiki Local Board. In West Auckland lesbian candidate Denise Yates has polled well enough to be a member of the Waitakere Ranges Local Board. As generally expected ex-MP and cabinet minister Phil Goff, a Labour stalwart of gay issues starting from the early days of his political career when he enthusiastically championed the Homosexual Law Reform Bill, has been voted into the Auckland mayoralty, replacing outgoing and gay-positive Len Brown. And three notably and vocally pro-glbti equality candidates have been returned to Auckland City's council. West Aucklander Penny Hulse, who has long championed glbti issues from her position of Deputy Mayor has been a shoe-in in Waitakere. Councillor Cathy Casey and ex-Mayor and long-time councilor Christine Fletcher have both been voted onto council representing the Albert-Eden-Roskill ward by wide margins over other candidates. Overall, it looks as though glbti representation in Auckland City governance is less than at the last election due to three Local Board members standing down from contention this year.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 8th October 2016 - 4:20pm