Judith Anne Turner

Place: Whakatāne

Born: 1956

Biography:

Judith Anne Turner, known as Judy Turner, is a New Zealand politician born on August 2, 1956 in Whakatāne, New Zealand. She was a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives as a list MP from 2002 to 2008, and the mayor of Whakatāne from 2019 to 2022. Turner was first elected as a United Future list MP at the 2002 election. In December 2004, she became the deputy leader of United Future New Zealand. In September 2005, Turner and Gordon Copeland were the only two United Future List MPs re-elected alongside Peter Dunne. In the 2008 election, Turner stood as a United Future candidate for the East Coast electorate, but failed to win the electorate. She did not return to Parliament as United Future did not poll sufficiently well for a second list MP during the 2008 New Zealand general election. In June 2009, Turner stood as an electorate candidate for United Future in Auckland's Mount Albert, polling eighth at 89 votes. She was outpolled by the Bill and Ben Party co-leader Ben Boyce, as well as the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party's Dakta Green and The Kiwi Party's Simmone Dyer. Turner was elected to Whakatāne District Council in the 2010 local elections and served three terms as deputy mayor. In the 2019 local elections, she won the mayoral election after the incumbent retired. Turner is married with three adult children. Before entering politics, she worked simultaneously as an art teacher and as a pastoral and community worker at a local New Life Church.