Jason Smith

Jason McLaren Smith (born ) He is standing again for mayor of Kaipara in 2025.

Early life and career Smith was born in Dargaville in New Zealand's Northland Region, but raised 30 km south in Ruawai. He is a fifth-generation resident of the Kaipara District, but went to school at King's College in Auckland. From 1991 to 1994 he studied in Cirencester at the Royal Agricultural University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in agriculture and land management. He later went on to serve as a research intern for the European Parliament, living in Luxembourg.

By 1997 he had returned to his home district of Kaipara and started his own eco-tourism company called Kauri Country. One of his PhD supervisors was former National MP Marilyn Waring. Smith took office as Kaipara's sixth mayor on 20 February 2018. Smith promised a "fresh start" for the district, seeking to attract new ratepayers in order to bring down council debt. Smith won re-election overwhelmingly, garnering 5996 votes to Mohowehnua's 418.

Despite having faced him in the Mayoral by-election, Smith re-appointed outgoing acting Mayor Peter Wethey as Deputy Mayor after taking office. Following his 2019 re-election, he appointed second-term councillor Anna Curnow as Deputy Mayor to replace Wethey, partly to bring a gender balance to the KDC leadership.

In June 2022, Smith announced he would not be standing for re-election as Kaipara District mayor at the 2022 New Zealand local elections, instead choosing to seek the National Party's nomination for the New Zealand House of Representatives electorate of Northland at the 2023 New Zealand general election. At the time the seat was held by Labour Party MP Willow-Jean Prime, who narrowly defeated sitting National MP Matt King by 163 votes in the landslide to Labour that occurred at the 2020 New Zealand general election. Grant McCallum was selected as National candidate and won the seat in 2023.

Smith is standing again for Kaipara Mayor in the 2025 election. His campaign slogan is a Better Kaipara Again.