Julie Anne is working for more sustainable and just communities, and advocates for infrastructure that delivers for our people and protects the climate.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Julie Anne saw how transport and urban design impacted the environment and influenced the lives of people within the city, from their health to their ability to access employment and education. Witnessing how neo-liberal policies had led to horrific inequality, combined with a long history of structural racism, created her drive to change things for the better.
This drive led to activism from a very young age for peace, cannabis law reform, marriage equality, environmental protection and ending the excessive influence of large corporates on government policy. Her first experience of consensus-driven, community based democracy came from living in a student-owned housing cooperative while at university.
Soon after arriving in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2006 as a post-grad scholar at the University of Auckland, Julie Anne became an active volunteer with the Green Party. The Greens not only shared her vision for creating a fairer society that put people and the environment first, but also effectively campaigned for the evidence-based policies that will deliver on that vision.
Before entering politics, Julie Anne’s professional career was in transport and urban planning. She advised local and central government organisations on policy and economic evaluation of transport projects as a consultant for some of New Zealand's leading firms.
She entered Parliament in 2011 and has been a spokesperson on a broad range of issues including climate change, transport, health, finance, housing and women. From 2017 to 2020, Julie Anne was the Minister for Women, and Associate Minister of Health and of Transport.
Julie Anne is a BA graduate of UC Berkeley, earned a post graduate certificate in international political studies from Sciences-Po Paris in France, and a Masters in Planning Practice (1st class) from the University of Auckland.
