Paul Matheson (curler)
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Paul Kenneth Matheson (born 1947) is a New Zealand politician. He was mayor of Nelson from 1998 to 2007, and was subsequently a Nelson city councillor from 2010 to 2019.


Early life and family

Born in
Huntly Huntly ( or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlements include Keith ...
in 1947, the son of an accountant, Matheson was raised in
Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
from about the age of five.


Political career

He first became involved in politics through membership of the
New Zealand Young Nationals The New Zealand Young Nationals, more commonly called the Young Nats, is the youth wing of the New Zealand National Party, National Party, a centre-right political party in New Zealand, and a member of the International Young Democrat Union. H ...
in the late 1960s, and served as that organisation's president from 1972 to 1973. He stood as the
National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...
candidate for the Sydenham electorate at the 1975 general election, but was defeated by the incumbent, John Kirk. Matheson was elected to the
Nelson City Council Nelson City Council is the unitary local authority for Nelson in New Zealand. History Local governance of Nelson began with Nelson Province in 1853, which covered the entire upper South Island. The town of Nelson was managed by the Nelson ...
in 1989. At the next local-body election in 1992 he did not stand for council, but instead ran for the mayoralty and was defeated by
Philip Woollaston Philip Tosswill Edmond Woollaston (born 17 August 1944) is a former New Zealand Labour Party politician. He was Member of Parliament for Nelson from 1981 to 1990 and Mayor of Nelson from 1992 to 1998. Early life and family Woollaston was born ...
. Matheson was returned as a city councillor in 1995 and was elected mayor of Nelson in 1998, this time defeating Woollaston. He was re-elected mayor in 2001 and 2004, but stood down at the 2007 election. He also served as the national chair of the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs youth scheme. In the
2008 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2008 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 29 December 2007, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2008. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and ...
, Matheson 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 and the community. In 2010, Matheson returned to local-body politics and was elected once again as a Nelson city councillor. He was, however, unsuccessful in his bid for a seat on the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board. He was re-elected as a city councillor in 2013 and was appointed deputy mayor of Nelson. Matheson was the campaign manager for Nelson MP Nick Smith at the 2011 general election. Matheson retired from politics for a second time in 2019.


Personal life

Matheson's wife, Juliana, died of cancer just six weeks before he took office as mayor, and since that time he has been a fundraiser for the Nelson Cancer Society's Daffodil Day appeal. He has three adult children.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matheson, Paul 1947 births Living people People from Huntly, New Zealand Mayors of Nelson, New Zealand Deputy mayors of places in New Zealand New Zealand National Party politicians Companions of the Queen's Service Order Unsuccessful candidates in the 1975 New Zealand general election Nelson City Councillors