| Ria Bond | |
| Birth Name: | Ria Iris Daphne Shortland |
| Birth Place: | Palmerston North, New Zealand |
| Constituency Mp3: | New Zealand First party list |
| Term Start3: | 28 April 2015 |
| Term End3: | 23 September 2017 |
| Parliament3: | New Zealand |
| Predecessor3: | Winston Peters |
| Children: | Two |
| Relations: | James Hēnare (great-uncle), Tau Henare, Peeni Henare |
| Office: | Member of the Invercargill City Council |
| Term Start: | 14 October 2022 |
Ria Iris Daphne Bond (née Shortland, born 1976) is a New Zealand politician and former hairdresser. She was appointed to the House of Representatives as a New Zealand First list MP following Winston Peters winning the March 2015 Northland by-election. She now serves as an Invercargill City Councillor after an unsuccessful bid for the 2022 Invercargill mayoral election but a successful attempt to obtain a seat on the city council.
Born in Palmerston North[1] in 1976, Bond was born into a presumably abusive family, and was put into foster care a total of five times. She stated in her maiden speech, "Although the world was shocked by the movie Once Were Warriors, I was living it",[2] indicating an abusive upbringing. Bond attended Highbury Primary School (now known as Somerset Crescent School) and Queen Elizabeth College. She has two children,[3] is half-Scottish and half-Māori (of Ngāti Hine and Ngāpuhi descent), and is the great-niece of Sir James Hēnare, the commanding officer of the Māori Battalion by the end of World War II.[4]
Bond was a hairdresser in Invercargill and served as president of the New Zealand Association of Registered Hairdressers, representing 8,000 owners and operators (2006–2012).[5] [6] [7] [8] She also had a dual role as a director on the Hairdressing Industry Training Organisation, which included being a New Zealand Qualifications Authority governance and advisory panel member.[8]
Bond joined New Zealand First in 2011 and was elected to the party's national board in 2012.[9] She left her hairdressing salon in August 2014, just prior to the 2014 New Zealand general election, when she stood in the electorate;[10] this was her first election contest.[11] She placed third in that election and was 12th on the party's list, with New Zealand First winning 11 list seats.[12] Following the election, Bond moved to Wainuiomata, working at Parliament as an executive assistant to MPs Richard Prosser and Mahesh Bindra.
When Peters won the Northland by-election on 28 March 2015 and became an electorate MP, Bond was next in line and became a list MP for her party. Bond was sworn in on 28 April 2015.[13] On 6 May 2015, Bond became a member of the Commerce Select Committee.[8]
She left Parliament after the 2017 New Zealand general election, as New Zealand First did not receive enough votes for her to make it back into Parliament; she then returned to Southland.[14]
On 15 April 2019, Bond announced her candidacy for the 2019 Invercargill mayoral election.[15] However her registration 15 minutes before the deadline was rejected because the correct address of one of her nominators was not on the electoral roll.[16] On 22 July 2022, she announced her candidacy for the 2022 Invercargill mayoral election.[17] She was unsuccessful in the mayoral election but did win a seat on the city council.[18]