Francisco Hernandez

Francisco Bagkus Hernandez (born ) is a New Zealand politician, representing the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand as a Member of Parliament since 7 May 2024.

Early life Hernandez was born in Manila, Philippines and moved to Wellington with his family when he was 12. His father, Rossano Hernandez, had been a politician aligned with Joseph Estrada and left the Philippines with his family after the fall of the Estrada administration in 2001. and he attended Liston College. Francisco Hernandez graduated from the University of Otago with a Bachelor of Arts in politics and a Master of Entrepreneurship. During 2023, he was studying a master's degree in economics.

In the 2013 local elections, he unsuccessfully ran for a councillor position at Dunedin City Council and, subsequently, for head of the New Zealand Union of Students' Associations (NZUSA). In the 2016 local elections, he unsuccessfully stood for a position on the Henderson-Massey Local Board.

After leaving university in 2014, he began working as a Green Party parliamentary staffer and policy advisor, before joining the Climate Change Commission to work on sustainable waste usage.

Entry into Parliament

Hernandez was announced as the Green Party's Dunedin candidate for the 2023 general election on 3 February 2023. His campaign helped build party support in his constituency, where the Green Party took second place in the party vote. However, his list placement was not sufficient to make it into parliament. In 2024 he entered parliament following the retirement of James Shaw. Initially Lawrence Xu-Nan was set to be Shaw's replacement, however Xu-Nan entered parliament sooner than expected after the sudden death of Efeso Collins. Following Shaw's resignation, Hernandez became a Member of Parliament on 6 May 2024.

Parliamentary career Following his entry to Parliament, Hernandez was appointed to the petitions select committee as the Green member and designated as the party spokesperson for Public Services, Tertiary Education and Emergency Management and Recovery and was later designated as the party spokesperson for Regulation, Statistics and Science, Innovation and Technology. In November 2024 he was named on The Post 's 'Parliament backbenchers to watch ' and in December 2025 he was named The Post's "Rookie on the rise" in parliament.

Personal life Hernandez is Catholic.

Views and positions

Political views Hernandez identified himself as a "market-socialist" in his parliamentary maiden speech.