Arthur Anae

Arthur Anae (born 1945) is a New Zealand politician who currently serves on the Auckland Council. He was an MP from 1996 to 1999, and again from 2000 to 2002. He was part of the National Party, being its first Pacific Islander MP.

Member of Parliament

Anae first entered Parliament in the 1996 elections as a list MP, but after the 1999 election, missed returning to Parliament by a single place. When Don McKinnon resigned, however, Anae entered Parliament as his replacement. In the 2002 election, Anae was ranked lowly on the party list, and was not returned to Parliament. His low ranking was criticised at the time by various Pacific Island groups, who said that National was ignoring the Pacific community.

Local politics

In October 2004 he was elected to the Manukau City Council from the Otara ward. He ran for the mayoralty of Manukau City in the 2007 local body elections, polling third.

Anae is Samoan, although he was born in Fiji.

In the 2010 Auckland Council elections Anae was elected from the Manukau ward to serve in the newly formed Auckland Council and served as the Chair of the Council's Economic Forum. He was re-elected in 2013, but did not stand at the 2016 elections.