Kahurangi Carter

Kahurangi Carter is a New Zealand politician, representing the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand as a Member of Parliament since the 2023 New Zealand general election.

Early life
Carter was born in 1983 or 1984 and is of Ngāti Maniapoto and Tainui descent. She was born and lived in rural Waikato until she was twelve, when her family moved to Auckland's North Shore. She studied psychology and philosophy at the University of Auckland. 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 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. 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 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 Issues spokesperson portfolios. She also became the party's Deputy Musterer.

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.