Paula Southgate

Early life Southgate was born in 1963 or 1964 to Margaret Southgate and attended Hamilton Girls' High School and the University of Waikato. She worked as a teacher, a counsellor in the mental health sector, and served on two school boards of trustees.

Local government

Southgate served as a councillor on the Waikato Regional Council from 2001 to 2016.

Southgate ran to be mayor of Hamilton and a Hamilton City Councillor in the 2016 local elections but lost to Andrew King. The election was close, with an election-day margin of nine votes reduced to six votes after a judicial recount. However, she was elected as a city councillor from the East ward.

In the 2019 local elections, although Southgate did not run for a councillor position, she did win the mayoralty with 33.74% of the vote and a majority of 3,137 votes over King, who had proposed renaming Hamilton to Kirikiriroa in spite of public opinion. Geoff Taylor was appointed as her deputy mayor.

Southgate sought and won a second mayoral term in the 2022 Hamilton mayoral election.

On 12 January 2025, Southgate confirmed that she would not be running for a third mayoral term during the 2025 New Zealand local elections.

Personal life Southgate is married to Greg Forsyth and has two daughters and a stepson.