James Shaw out, Tamatha Paul in: Greens begin Wellington Central seat race

Tamatha Paul is the youngest candidate. Photo / Russel Klein

Green party co-leader James Shaw isn’t standing for Wellington Central’s MP seat for the first time in 12 years so 26-year-old Tamatha Paul can. 

In her campaign launch speech on July 18th, Paul said she wants to be a “vehicle for our generation”. 

“For the rowdy students, for the cleaners who aren't even on a living wage, for the university staff that just got laid off, the whānau who can't afford bread or milk, the strippers fighting for their basic workers' rights”. 

“Change can take decades but sometimes decades of change can happen overnight, and that's what I'm preparing for.” 

Paul was president of VUWSA in 2018 and has been a Wellington City Councillor since 2019. 

Massive asked Paul why Wellington’s students should vote for her at the October 14th election. 

She replied, “I wasn't a student so long ago… so it's a fresh experience in my mind and in many ways, I'm still living like a student.” 

She said the biggest issue for students is flatting standards, which she can improve as Wellington Central MP. 

“I think it's disgusting that we've normalised the student experience… living in abject poverty as a rite of passage for tertiary students in Aotearoa, so that's something I will go hard on. 

“But then it's just the basic things like making public transport more affordable, more reliable. 

Making the city safer, advocating for a living wage, you know, students are the ones working the minimum wage jobs. 

It's a lot of those simple things that I will be able to advocate for and I think that is what would improve being a student in Wellington the most.” 

The Green Party’s “Pledge to Renters” includes controls which limit rent increases to 3% per year, and a rent warrant of fitness to ensure healthy and safe living standards. 

The Green’s “Income Guarantee” would provide students, and those without work, with $385 per week, funded through a tax on New Zealand’s wealthiest. 

At the campaign launch, James Shaw said he wasn’t running for the seat as Paul is “better placed to win”. 

“She’s all about this city. She's all about the people in this city. She's all about the environment in this city.” 

He said Paul was the only candidate for the Wellington Central seat who wasn’t also running for a party list seat, “a sign of her commitment”. 

This means if Paul doesn’t win the seat on October 14th, she won’t make it into parliament with the Greens – who have never before held the seat. 

The Labour-dominated seat has been held by Grant Robertson for the past years 15 years, but replacing him in the running this time was MP Ibrahim Omar. 

National hasn’t won the seat since 1978. Their candidate this year is Dr Scott Sheeran, an international lawyer and human rights expert. 

The Opportunities Party (TOP), founded in 2016, is looking to snag the seat this year with Natalia Albert, a political science PhD student and former public servant. 

Act held the seat once in 1914 and once in 1996 but was yet to announce a candidate as of writing. 

Paul is the youngest candidate standing in the electorate.