Campbell Barry

Campbell Nicholas Barry (born 1991), a local-body politician in New Zealand, became Mayor of Lower Hutt in 2019.

Early life

He attended Wainuiomata High School. He is a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington attaining a Bachelor of Arts in 2018.

Political career

At the 2013 local body elections he was elected a member of the Hutt City Council for the Wainuiomata ward and was re-elected in 2016. He was the youngest person to ever be elected onto the City Council.

In October 2016, Barry contested the Labour Party nomination for the electorate of Hutt South for the 2017 election against Ginny Andersen and Sarah Packer after long-serving member of parliament Trevor Mallard signalled his intention to serve as a list-only candidate for the election.

In June 2017 Barry hit media headlines for raising a motion to abolish rate payer funded meals as he believed elected members should pay for their own meals after the Council decided to introduce what he called "a sham Living Wage Policy". After a 7–6 vote, with mayor Ray Wallace voting in favour of retaining the meals, a public backlash engulfed the Council in controversy.

At the 2019 local body elections he was elected mayor of Lower Hutt, beating the incumbent Ray Wallace by 15,453 votes to 13,034. At 28 he is the youngest person to ever be elected to the office of mayor of a city in New Zealand history.