Campbell Barry


Campbell Nicholas Barry is a New Zealand local-body politician. He has served as Mayor of Lower Hutt since 2019.

Biography

Early life

Barry was educated at Wainuiomata High School. He went on to study at Victoria University of Wellington, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2018.

Political career

At the 2013 local body elections, Barry was elected a member of the Hutt City Council for the Wainuiomata ward and was re-elected in 2016. He was the youngest person ever to be elected onto the city council.
In October 2016, Barry contested the Labour Party nomination for the electorate of for the against Ginny Andersen and Sarah Packer after long-serving member of parliament Trevor Mallard signalled his intention to stand as a list-only candidate at the election.
In June 2017, Barry raised a motion to abolish ratepayer-funded meals for city councillors at long meetings, 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, Barry was elected mayor of Lower Hutt, beating the incumbent Ray Wallace by 15,453 votes to 13,034. At 28, he was the youngest person ever elected to the office of mayor of a city in New Zealand.

Footnotes