Damian Light

Damian Francis Light (born c. 1984) 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.[3][1] He became party leader following the resignation of Peter Dunne. Light had previously served as the president of the party.[4] He was the first openly gay leader of a political party in New Zealand.[5]

Damian Light
Leader of United Future
In office
23 August 2017 – 14 November 2017[1]
DeputyJudy Turner
Preceded byPeter Dunne
Personal details
Born1983/1984[2]
Political partyUnited Future (2002–2017)
Domestic partnerJosh Harding
WebsiteOfficial website

Personal life

Light was born and raised in Auckland. He attended Rosmini College in Takapuna.[6] He currently lives in Botany Downs, Auckland, with his partner, Josh Harding.[2][6][5] He works as an improvement analyst at AsureQuality, and previously worked as a line manager at KiwiRail.[6][7]

Political career

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".[8] 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.[9] In the 2014 general election Light was United Future's candidate for the Northcote electorate and ranked third on the party list.[7] In the 2017 general election, Light was United Future's candidate for the Botany electorate,[10] and first place on the party list.[11]

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.[8] 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.[5]

Light ran for the Auckland Council as an independent in the 2018 Howick ward by-election, placing fourth behind the winner, businessman Paul Young.[12][13] 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.[14]

References
  1. 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. "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. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  3. "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.
  4. Mackenzie, Dene (23 August 2017). "High-level changes for Greens". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  5. "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.
  6. "United Future's new leader in the spotlight". Stuff.co.nz. 8 September 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  7. "UnitedFuture List Top 10 Announced (press release)". Scoop. 3 August 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  8. Satherley, Dan (7 August 2017). "Meet Damian Light, United Future's new leader". Newshub. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  9. "Credibility and experience top UnitedFuture list". Press Release: United Future New Zealand (via Scoop.co.nz). 20 October 2011.
  10. "Meet your election candidates for Botany - Times". Times. 10 August 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  11. "UnitedFuture announces party list focused on future generations – Light". unitedfuture.org.nz. United Future. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  12. @damianlight (14 June 2018). "Proud to be standing for my local community in this upcoming by-election" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. Niall, Todd (18 July 2018). "Balloon goes up in big Auckland by-election". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  14. "Live: Local body election results". Stuff.co.nz. 12 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
Party political offices
Preceded by
Peter Dunne		 Leader of United Future New Zealand
2017		 Succeeded by
Office Abolished
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