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Mayor of Porirua
Porirua coat of arms (supporters not shown)
Incumbent Anita Baker since 2019
Style	Her Worship
Term length	Three years
Inaugural holder	Whitford Brown
Formation	1962
Deputy	Kylie Wihapi
Website	Official website

The Mayor of Porirua is the head of the municipal government of Porirua, New Zealand, and presides over the Porirua City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the single transferable vote electoral system. There have been six mayors since the establishment of the borough council in 1962: the current mayor is Anita Baker, who was elected in October 2019.

History

The locality was part the Makara County Council, abolished on 31 August 1962. The rural area became part of Hutt County, the urban area becoming Porirua Borough Council. Elections were held in October 1962, and Whitford Brown was elected the first mayor of Porirua. During Brown's term, Porirua achieved city status on 2 October 1965. At the time, this required having a population of at least 20,000. In the first triennium the mayor received honorarium for their duties of £750 per annum. At the first council meeting following the 1965 elections councillors voted to keep the honorarium at the same amount after the council was upgraded from a borough to a city.

Brown retired from the mayoralty in 1983. He was succeeded by John Burke, who had been Deputy Mayor since 1977. Burke remained mayor for 15 years (five terms) until he was defeated in 1998.

Jenny Brash was first elected mayor in 1998, succeeding Burke. She held the mayoralty for 12 years (four terms) until her retirement in October 2010. She was a Northern Ward councillor in 1983-89 and 1995-98.

Nick Leggett was elected mayor on 9 October 2010, defeating Deputy Mayor Litea Ah Hoi. He had been endorsed by his predecessor plus former mayor John Burke, and was first elected as a councillor in Porirua in 1998, when he was 19 years old. Aged 31 on his election to mayor, he was at the time the youngest mayor in New Zealand. In October 2016, Leggett was succeeded by Mike Tana.

List of mayors of Porirua

Porirua has had six mayors:

Key

  Independent   Labour

	#	Name	Portrait	Term	Elections
	1	Whitford Brown		1962–1983	1962 • 1965 • 1968 1971 • 1974 • 1977 1980
	2	John Burke		1983–1998	1983 • 1986 • 1989 1992 • 1995
	3	Jenny Brash		1998–2010	1998 • 2001 2004 • 2007
	4	Nick Leggett		2010–2016	2010 • 2013
	5	Mike Tana		2016–2019	2016
	6	Anita Baker		2019–present	2019 • 2022

List of deputy mayors of Porirua

References

1. "NZ Elective Structures Since Colonisation". Porirua City Council. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
2. ^ "Whitford James Richard Brown, CBE, OBE". Porirua City Council. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
3. McLintock, A. H. "Porirua". Te Ara. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
4. "Mayoral Honorarium of £750 - Porirua City Council's Decision". Kapi-Mana News. Vol. 16, no. 49. 27 October 1965. p. 4.
5. "John Brian Burke, QSO". Porirua City Council. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
6. Carroll, Joanne; Jonathan Milne (10 October 2010). "Wellington mayor clings to narrow lead". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
7. "Porirua farewells Jenny Brash". Porirua City Council. 5 October 2010. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
8. "New mayor for Porirua". Radio NZ. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
9. Dando, Kris. "Porirua mayor-elect Nick Leggett 'humbled' by level of support". Kapi-Mana News. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
10. Broun, Britton (11 October 2010). "Porirua's new mayor New Zealand's youngest". Dominion Post. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
11. "Porirua street name changed to match the person it was named after". 25 November 2017.
12. "Bill Herewini". Tu Tangata. No. 24. 1 June 1985. p. 14.
13. "Deputy dies". The Evening Post. 12 June 1985. p. 1.
14. "Mozzie bites in the morning: The UN sustainable development goals in the Pacific" (PDF).
15. "Euon Murrell is thrilled to be National candidate for Mana electorate". 28 April 2017.
16. "Liz Kelly picked as Porirua's deputy mayor". 2 November 2010.
17. "Experience in spades for Porirua's only female mayoral candidate Liz Kelly". 1 September 2016.
18. "Who is 'Ana — 'Ana Coffey".
19. Wong, Justin (18 October 2022). "Porirua's first Māori ward councillor named as new deputy mayor". Dominion Post. Stuff.

• Mayors of Porirua
• Lists of mayors of places in New Zealand