This story is from Stuff and The Dominion Post

It will be an all-Green, all-women team leading the Wellington City Council, with Laurie Foon selected as the new deputy mayor.

Foon is well known as founder of popular fashion label Starfish in the early 1990s and “probably the nicest person on council”. She was first elected to council in the Paekawakawa/Southern ward in 2019.

She said she was “incredibly honoured to bring (her) positive mahi to the city” as deputy.

“I see a big part of my role as helping create a unified council to make good decisions on behalf of all Wellingtonians.”

Newly elected mayor Tory Whanau said Foon hesitated to accept the role at first. “I actually saw that as a benefit as it told me that when she accepted it was for all the right reasons – for the benefit of Wellington and Wellingtonians,” Whanau said.

She said she had 100% trust in Foon, and they had a “shared vision”. “She has the respect of councillors based on her kindness and honesty.”

“I must also say it is also important to me that I support women in leadership.”

This is the first time, at least in Wellington, that both mayor and deputy mayor of the council are women.

Foon is of Chinese and tau iwi (non-Māori) descent. She is a Green party councillor with strong environmental views about reducing carbon emissions from transport, dealing with waste, and greening the city.

At times this has caused controversy, with one Wellington resident laying a complaint against her for cutting the ribbon on a pop-up cycleway.

Whanau highlighted Foon’s ties to the Wellington business community, as a sustainable business award winner and a manager of the sustainable business network. Her ties would “prove invaluable as we bring them along on the journey of change which faces the city”, Whanau said.

Both the mayor and deputy mayor will be presented with their respective chains at an official inauguration ceremony on Wednesday.