Lan Pham | |
|---|---|
| Pham in 2023 | |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Green party list | |
| Assumed office 14 October 2023 | |
| Canterbury Regional Councillor for Christchurch Central Christchurch (2016–2019) | |
| In office October 2016 –October 2022 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1985 or 1986 (age 39–40) |
| Party | Green |
| Other political affiliations | The People's Choice (2016–2019) |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Ecologist |
Ngoc-Lan Thi Pham (born 1985 or 1986) is a New Zealand politician and ecologist. [1] She was a regional councillor for Environment Canterbury for six years and was elected to Parliament as a Green in the 2023 New Zealand general election.
Pham was born in 1985 or 1986 [2] to a Catholic mother of English and Irish ancestry and a Buddhist Vietnamese father. [3] [4] [5] Pham's mother was a supporter of the Alliance and Labour. [5] She grew up in Brooklyn, Wellington and attended Sacred Heart Cathedral School and St Mary's College, Wellington. [5] She moved to Palmerston North to study and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in ecology from Massey University in 2009. [5] [6] Pham moved to the South Island to work for the Department of Conservation in freshwater ecology, which prompted an interest in freshwater fish. She completed a Master of Science in ecology at the University of Otago in 2014. [7] [8] [9] Pham's professional specialisation is in the rivers of Canterbury. [10]
Pham was elected to the Canterbury Regional Council, also known as Environment Canterbury, at the 2016 New Zealand local elections. She ran her campaign while working on Raoul Island. [11] She stood as a candidate for the four-member Christchurch constituency under the ticket The People's Choice–Independent and received the most votes of the eight candidates. [12] In the 2019 elections she ran with Axel Downard-Wilke on the ticket The Common Good , choosing not to run with The People's Choice. [13] [14] She was re-elected to the council in the new Christchurch Central constituency. [15] Pham has been a resource management commissioner, and a freshwater commissioner at the Office of the Chief Freshwater Commissioner. [16] [11]
| Years | Term | Electorate | List | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 –present | 54th | List | 6 | Green | |
Pham was selected by the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand to contest the Banks Peninsula electorate at the 2023 New Zealand general election. [4] She was placed at number six on the national party list. [17] During the 2023 election, Pham came third place in the Banks Peninsula electorate but was elected to Parliament on the party list. [18] [19]
In late November 2023, Pham assumed the Green Party's environment, water services, biosecurity, emergency management and recovery, land information, statistics, tourism and hospitality, and customs spokesperson portfolios. [20]
Pham has two children with her husband Emerson. [21] In 2024, Pham and her family sold their home in Woolston, Christchurch and moved to Wellington to spend more time together. [22]