Jennifer Sylvia Brash (born December 1946) is a former New Zealand local government politician. In a career spanning nearly 40 years, she was mayor of

Porirua Porirua, () a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Poriru ...

from 1998 to 2010 having previously served as a Porirua city councillor. After retiring as mayor she served for the twelve years from 2010 to 2022 as councillor for Porirua–Tawa on the

Greater Wellington Regional Council Wellington Regional Council, branded as Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), is the regional council overseeing the Wellington Region of New Zealand's lower North Island. It is responsible for Public transport in the Wellington Region, p ...

Porirua City Council

Brash was first elected as a Northern Ward councillor in 1983 and held that role until 1989. She was elected in 1995 for another three-year term and was elected as mayor for the first time in 1998. Brash last contested the mayoralty in October 2007 against four other candidates. She received 6101 votes, more than twice as many as the next candidate. She retired from the mayoralty at the 2010 election. She endorsed the mayoral campaign of councillor

Nick Leggett Nicholas Oliver Leggett (born 1979) is a former New Zealand politician and, as of 2016, a member of the New Zealand National Party. He was Mayor of Porirua from 2010 until 2016, and at the time of his election in October 2010, he was the young ...

, who was elected in October 2010 as her successor. She campaigned for the construction of the

Transmission Gully Motorway The Transmission Gully motorway () is a , four-lane motorway north of Wellington, New Zealand; it is part of the State Highway 1 (New Zealand), State Highway 1. Construction began on 8 September 2014, with completion originally scheduled for Apr ...

. Brash was the Porirua representative on the Wellington Regional Transport Committee when it was formed in 2008.

Greater Wellington Regional Council

In October 2010, Brash was elected to the

as one of two councillors for the Porirua–Tawa constituency. Her priorities in the election campaign were transport and the environment. She was re-elected in 2013, 2016 and 2019. As a regional councillor, she supported the dredging of

Porirua Harbour Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour, commonly known as Porirua Harbour, is a natural inlet in the south-western coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The harbour is within the main urban area of the Wellington Region, and is surrounded by the city ...

to remove a build-up of silt on the harbour floor, although reports in 2012 and 2017 found that dredging would not solve the problem. She did not contest the local elections in 2022.

Community involvement

At the close of her mayoralty, she successfully stood for election to the Porirua Community Trust. She is a supporter of the NZ Flag.com Trust, preferring a silver fern as the symbol on the New Zealand flag over the current design, which is too close to the Australian flag for her.

Honours

In the

2011 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2011 were announced on 31 December 2010 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,New Zealand"New Year Honours 2011"(14 January 2011) 2 '' New Zealand Gazette'' 55. The Cook IslandsThe Cook Islands: Grenada,Grenada: ...

, Brash was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The King's Service Order () established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant of Queen regnant, Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to t ...

, for services to local-body affairs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brash, Jenny 1946 births Companions of the Queen's Service Order Living people Mayors of Porirua Wellington regional councillors Women mayors of places in New Zealand Politicians from Christchurch