Kahurangi Carter (born 1983 or 1984) is a New Zealand politician, representing the

Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand (), commonly known as Green or the Greens, is a Green politics, green List of political parties in New Zealand, political party in New Zealand. Like many green parties around the world, it has four pillar ...

as a Member of Parliament since the

2023 New Zealand general election The 2023 New Zealand general election was held on 14 October 2023 to determine the composition of the 54th New Zealand Parliament, 54th Parliament of New Zealand. Voters elected 122 members to the unicameral New Zealand House of Representatives ...

Early life

Carter was born in 1983 or 1984 and is of

Ngāti Maniapoto Ngāti Maniapoto is an iwi (tribe) based in the Waikato-Waitomo region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the Tainui confederation, the members of which trace their whakapapa (genealogy) back to people who arrived in New Zealand on th ...

and

Tainui Tainui is a tribal waka (canoe), waka confederation of New Zealand Māori people, Māori iwi. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Māori iwi of the central North Island of New Zealand: Hauraki Māori, Hauraki, Ngāti Maniapo ...

descent. She was born and lived in rural

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

until she was twelve, when her family moved to Auckland's North Shore. She studied psychology and philosophy at the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

. Carter is a zero-waste advocate, who worked for the Ministry for the Environment. She trained as an actor in New York, and appeared in a controversial promotional video as part of the

Chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

Gigatown competition. Two of Carter's family members were involved in the Christchurch rebuild as structural engineers, and Carter "fell in love with" the city and moved there in 2021.

Political career

Carter was encouraged to enter politics by

Chlöe Swarbrick Chlöe Charlotte Swarbrick (born 26 June 1994) is a New Zealand politician. Following a high-profile but unsuccessful run for the 2016 Auckland mayoral election, she became a parliamentary candidate for the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, ...

. She was also inspired by her son's concerns about climate change and property ownership. In the 2023 general election, Carter stood in the

Christchurch Central Christchurch Central is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate in the South Island city of Christchurch. The electorate was established for the 1946 election and, until 2011 had always been won by the Labour Party. Since 2008, the incumbent ...

electorate, and was placed 14th on the Green Party list. She said she wasn't running an electorate campaign, planning to do so in 2026 instead, but "Christchurch Central just embraced" her. She entered Parliament on the list when the Green Party picked up a larger share of the party vote than predicted in the preliminary results. The final results on 3 November confirmed her election to Parliament on the party list. In late November 2023, Carter assumed the Green Party's Zero Waste, Children, Disability Issues, Rainbow Communities, Community and Voluntary Sector, Arts, Culture and Heritage,

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

Issues spokesperson portfolios. She also became the party's Deputy Musterer. In November 2024, Carter became the sponsor of the Green Party's Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill, which proposed allowing copyrighted works to be used for parody, satire and

meme A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that Mimesis, spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying c ...

s. On 8 November 2024, the bill was pulled from Parliament's ballot. Carter said that the bill would "protect artists' right to freedom of speech, and in doing so helps protect our democracy."

Views and positions

Issues Carter sees as important for Christchurch include protections for people in rental housing, wage increases, affordable city living, public transport, and waste minimisation.

Personal life

Carter's hobbies include swimming and dancing. She has two teenage children.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Kahurangi Living people 21st-century New Zealand women politicians Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Candidates in the 2023 New Zealand general election Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand MPs New Zealand list MPs Māori MPs Ngāti Maniapoto people Tainui people Year of birth missing (living people)