The Greens have pulled off a historic victory in Wellington Central by flipping the safe Labour seat and fighting off the blue wave that’s engulfed most of the country. 

Tamatha Paul’s majority was more than convincing on election night. Labour’s candidate Ibrahim Omer proved no match for her, despite Grant Robertson holding the seat for 15 years before running list only this election. 

Paul had a margin of 3,309 based on 95 per cent of votes being counted. 

The Greens could also take the neighbouring Rongotai electorate, where Julie Anne Genter is ahead, although that could change when special votes are counted. 

Paul ran a strong grassroots campaign in a successful effort to mirror Chlöe Swarbrick’s 2020 Auckland Central win. 

Last night she said she was overwhelmed and put her success down to the “power of the people”. 

”This is a historic moment. They called this a safe Labour seat, this seat has been held by the legacy parties since before many of us were born. We will change history today. And I hope you know that this is our win.” 

Paul said her campaign team has made more than 40,000 phone calls and door knocks as well as raising $100,000. 

“Thank you for believing in this Māori girl from Tokoroa to represent our capital city, it will be the honour of my entire life.” 

Green Party candidates Tamatha Paul and Julie Anne Genter held their election event in central Wellington last night. Photo / Azaria Howell 

Paul has previously said she can work with all parties, but argued it would be even more important to have a Green voice for Wellington in the context of a National-Act government. 

She is a strong supporter of light rail, which National has promised to kill. 

Paul has pointed out that the Basin Reserve flyover proposal was successfully fought against by the community under a National-led government in 2014. 

“Just because they’re in Government does not mean that they can force whatever they like on us and that’s the kind of attitude the MP for Wellington Central needs to have.” 

Like many before her, Paul was the president of the Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association before she entered politics. 

Paul memorably took on Wellington City Council over a proposed liquor ban at Kelburn Park. 

A fountain at the park is a favourite haunt among students much to the dismay of neighbours fed up with the “screaming, yelling, urinating and vomiting” at the park. 

Paul argued the ban would just move the problem elsewhere and that the various parties needed to come together to find a long-term solution. The liquor ban never went ahead. 

In 2019 she successfully ran for Wellington City Council as an independent but was clearly left-leaning. 

She focused her local government campaign on young people and how she could be their representative on issues she has first-hand experience in, like Wellington’s challenging rental market. 

The then 22-year-old said she wanted to start a “youthquake” in the capital. Paul said she was inspired by Swarbrick and her Auckland mayoral campaign in 2016. 

Some like-minded councillors thought they might be able to usher her under their wing as part of a left voting block, but Paul had a mind of her own from the beginning. 

Her introduction to life as a city councillor was tumultuous, to say the least, with Andy Foster elected as mayor and the chaos that ensued. 

Paul has been a strong advocate for high-density housing and city safety issues after an increased reporting of sexual abuse and a string of serious assaults, including a fatal assault outside Te Papa. 

Tamatha Paul speaking at a rally against sexual violence on the capital's streets in 2021. Photo / Katie Harris 

One of her most impressive wins last term was finding support to pull the plug on $76 million set aside in the council’s ten-year budget for “airport seawalls”, which she feared was part of a plan to extend the runway. 

“This loan must be removed as a clear signal to Wellington that we are dedicated to climate action and that we will hold some of the biggest polluters in town to account,” she said at the time. 

Ahead of the most recent local body elections, Paul made the decision to seek the Green Party selection for Pukehīnau-Lambton ward. 

This was after the party gave long-time Wellington City councillor Iona Pannett the boot during a meeting some members described as “deeply uncomfortable” and sombre. 

Paul is close with Green endorsed mayor Tory Whanau, who made Paul chairwoman of a new council super committee designed to deal with Wellington’s infrastructure crisis and housing shortage. 

Rongotai and Hutt South could flip 

The Greens could take Rongotai, which has only ever been held by Labour. 

With 91 per cent of the votes counted, Former Minister and Green MP Julie Anne Genter had a 745 majority over Labour’s Fleur Fitzsimons. 

“This is down to all of you, we have achieved a historic result for the Green Party in Te Whanganui-a-Tara - and it doesn’t stop here,” Genter said last night. 

“There is so much more we can do when we work together.” 

However, the electorate could come down to special votes. 

Meanwhile, National’s Chris Bishop is ahead in Hutt South with a 1,022-strong margin based on 91 per cent of the votes being counted. 

He won the seat in 2017 before Labour’s Ginny Andersen took it back in 2020. 

It’s traditionally a red seat, and it could stay that way, depending on special votes. 

Bishop said last night it was still too close to call, although he was feeling “cautiously optimistic of success”. 

He also had a message for Genter over in Rongotai. 

“It looks like Julie Anne Genter might sneak home in Rongotai, but here’s something that’s happening in Julie Anne Genter’s new seat. We’re building a second Mount Victoria tunnel! 

“No more secret letters are going to derail the transport progress that Wellington needs - National will deliver it!” 

National Party deputy leader Nicola Willis failed to win Ōhāriu against Labour incumbent Greg O’Connor. 

“We didn’t quite do it this time, but we took thousands and thousands of votes from the incumbent,” Willis told supporters last night. 

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.