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Damian Light

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Damian Light
Leader of United Future
In office
23 August 2017 – 14 November 2017[1]
DeputyJudy Turner
Preceded byPeter Dunne
Personal details
Born (1983-10-31) 31 October 1983 (age 41)[2][3]
Political partyUnited Future (2002–2017)
Domestic partnerJosh Harding
WebsiteOfficial website

Damian Francis Light (born 31 October 1983) is a New Zealand politician who was the leader of the United Future party from August 2017 until the party's dissolution in November 2017.[4][1] He became party leader following the resignation of Peter Dunne. Light had previously served as the president of the party.[5] He was the first openly gay leader of a political party in New Zealand.[6] Light later entered local politics, and in 2022 became the Chair of the Howick Local Board.

Personal life

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Light was born and raised in Auckland. He attended Rosmini College in Takapuna.[7] He currently lives in Botany Downs, Auckland, with his partner, Josh Harding.[2][7][6] He works as an improvement analyst at AsureQuality, and previously worked as a line manager at KiwiRail.[7][8]

Political career

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Light stated that he was motivated to become involved in politics at the 2002 general election after seeing Peter Dunne's memorable television debate with the "worm".[9] He first stood for parliament at the 2008 general election in the North Shore electorate and ranked 13 on United Future's party list. At the 2011 general election Light was again United Future's candidate for North Shore and was ranked 12 on the party list.[10] In the 2014 general election Light was United Future's candidate for the Northcote electorate and ranked third on the party list.[8] In the 2017 general election, Light was United Future's candidate for the Botany electorate,[11] and first place on the party list.[12]

Upon becoming party leader, Light stated he would prefer United Future to gravitate closer towards Labour than National as he claimed to possess a 'social conscience' and indicated his key area of policy concern was drug reform.[9] After appearing in a televised debate on TVNZ 1, Light went viral on social media, being compared to Hollywood film star Ryan Gosling, with "Damian Light" trending on Twitter, and United Future's website crashing from an increased surge in internet traffic.[6]

Light ran for the Auckland Council as an independent in the 2018 Howick ward by-election, placing fourth behind the winner, businessman Paul Young.[13][14] He contested the ward again in the 2019 Auckland local elections and placed third behind the two winners, Young and Sharon Stewart, making him the highest ranked candidate in the ward to not be elected.[15]

In 2022 Light stood for the council again unsuccessfully but was elected to the Howick Local Board for the Botany subdivision.[16] Light became the Chair of the Board for the 2022-2025 term.[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b Light, Damian. "all good things must end" Archived 14 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine, United Future, Wellington, 14 November 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017
  2. ^ a b "Who is Damian Light? 'Speed-dating' with the new face of United Future, the unexpected hit of 1 NEWS' minor parties debate". 1 News. TVNZ. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  3. ^ @damianlight (31 October 2022). "Thank you to everyone for their birthday wishes yesterday. It was an extra special day for me, as it was also the inaugural meeting of the Howick Local Board" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  4. ^ "UnitedFuture appoints Damian Light as new leader – Turner/Damian". unitedfuture.org.nz. United Future. 23 August 2017. Archived from the original on 21 October 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  5. ^ Mackenzie, Dene (23 August 2017). "High-level changes for Greens". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  6. ^ a b c "NZ's 'Ryan Gosling' Damian Light proud to be first gay leader of political party in New Zealand". The New Zealand Herald. 10 September 2017.
  7. ^ a b c "United Future's new leader in the spotlight". Stuff.co.nz. 8 September 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  8. ^ a b "UnitedFuture List Top 10 Announced (press release)". Scoop. 3 August 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  9. ^ a b Satherley, Dan (7 August 2017). "Meet Damian Light, United Future's new leader". Newshub. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  10. ^ "Credibility and experience top UnitedFuture list". Press Release: United Future New Zealand (via Scoop.co.nz). 20 October 2011.
  11. ^ "Meet your election candidates for Botany - Times". Times. 10 August 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  12. ^ "UnitedFuture announces party list focused on future generations – Light". unitedfuture.org.nz. United Future. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  13. ^ @damianlight (14 June 2018). "Proud to be standing for my local community in this upcoming by-election" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  14. ^ Niall, Todd (18 July 2018). "Balloon goes up in big Auckland by-election". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  15. ^ "Live: Local body election results". Stuff.co.nz. 12 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  16. ^ "Local elections 2022 – Local board member preliminary results" (PDF). Local elections 2022 – Local board member preliminary results. Auckland Council. 9 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  17. ^ Harrowell, Chris (1 November 2022). "Light and Burns to lead local board". Times Online. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
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Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of United Future New Zealand
2017 		Party dissolved
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