Auckland’s Eden/Albert Community Board chairperson Lindsey Rea says “it’s time for another gay councillor in Auckland,” and she’s now in the running to become a City Councillor in this year’s Local Body Elections. Openly-lesbian Rea, 57, was nominated as a candidate for Auckland's Western Bays at a ‘City Vision’ meeting on Sunday. She has six years’ experience on the Eden/Albert Community Board – three as chair – and a new qualification as a planner. “I’m excited – it’ll be very interesting. There’s a lot of work to do in Auckland,” she tells GayNZ.com. “I know I can work well with people to get things done.” If elected, Rea would be only the second openly-gay city councillor in Auckland’s history – Trevor Barnard spent one term as an Alliance councillor in the early 1990s. A ‘Citizens and Ratepayers’ spokesperson could not yet confirm if historically anti-gay former deputy mayor David Hay would also be standing as a candidate. Meanwhile, openly-gay candidate for Christchurch’s City Council, Tony Milne, says “while gay politics won’t form a large part of my campaign, it is symbolically important that Christchurch elect its first openly-gay city councillor.” Postal ballot votes in City Council elections are sent out in mid-September. Rea reminds potential voters that the electoral roll closes in late August. “It’s very important that if anybody’s moved since they last voted, they need to change their enrolment details, otherwise their ballots forms will go to their last address.” Enrolment details can be updated online at the Elections New Zealand website on the link below. The second link provided is to Lindsey Rea’s Civil Union portrait from February 2006. Related links: www.elections.org.nz Ref: GayNZ.com (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 13th June 2007 - 12:00pm