Queenstown trial lawyer Joseph Mooney (41) is a keen surfer, cyclist and skier, a proud husband and dad of three – and now he’s gunning for a new job from September 19, as the Southland electorate Member of Parliament.

Mr Mooney was selected by the National Party at the end of July, to stand in the traditional safe seat of Southland (formerly Clutha-Southland), replacing the incumbent Hamish Walker, who is retiring from politics.

Many Southlanders may not be familiar with Mr Mooney – though those who require his services in court will be. However, Mr Mooney is certainly familiar with the region, having first toured it by bicycle 20 years ago. 

Now, he drives all over it to get to courts in Alexandra, Gore, Invercargill and Queenstown.

The former Hawke’s Bay man still fondly recalls the moment two decades ago when he pedaled over the Crown Range from Wanaka and rolled down the mountain towards Queenstown. 

He was nearing the end of a massive tour of the country, during which he had met his wife-to-be, Silvia, at Maruia Springs. She was also touring by bike. 

The view of the south from the Crown Range spoke to his heart and he promised himself one day he would live in Queenstown.

Moving south took a little longer than he wanted but since moving his family to Queenstown five years ago, he’s built a business and a house and become familiar with the towns in his electorate.

He is excited about entering politics and working on solutions for his constituents during the post-COVID economic turmoil.

The "Incredible Electorate": Southland's boundaries were recently redrawn to include parts of Central Otago. IMAGE: Supplied

“It is an incredible electorate. In one way it is the land of milk and honey. But you have also got the mountains, the lakes. You have also got Fiordland, parts of the Catlins, you have got the orchards and the ancient, old gold mining regions of Alexandra, Clyde and Roxburgh. It is just an incredible, incredible electorate,” he said.

Mr Mooney was born in and spent most of his childhood in the Hawke’s Bay and, contrary to a recent media report, he is not Maori.

That is something Mr Mooney says people have assumed about him throughout his life.

At age 13 he chose to immerse himself in Maori culture and took Te Reo courses out of interest. Later he became “an honorary member’’ of Waikato University’s Maori Society. 

“But I am not Maori... I can’t point to any Maori in my whakapapa... I am not going to claim that.’’

He spent some of his teenage years in Auckland, and then went overseas for a while.

On his return, he went to live in Raglan, where his younger brother had joined the surf academy, and decided to study law at Waikato University.

National Party deputy leader Gerry Brownlee has described Mr Mooney as a man from “struggle street’’ but did not elaborate.

The Southland App asked what that was about. 

Mr Mooney said he had put his hand up for service at a time when he was doing well and had built his business up to become a senior trial lawyer. Now, people were asking “what on earth are you thinking”.

But as a young child in the 80s, he could vividly recall there was not always enough food on the table, though he did not know why.

He left high school without qualifications, feeling he had failed and didn’t have the brains for university.

He admitted he had not talked through “the full mechanics’’ of this period with his family, but he is motivated to help families through the difficult times ahead.

“My wife and I were talking about what we could do to help. Stuff came up and I thought I had better put my money where my mouth is, and offer my services if people want them, so I can do everything I can to try and ensure people in our electorate have food on their tables.’’

As a young adult, he spent time working with his brother in small businesses, in particular a storage and removal company, and decided it was time to give education another go.

His brother was dealing with a lot of business regulations while managing staff, keeping clients happy and paying the bills. Mr Mooney discovered he was really interested in law. “It really is the DNA of society.’’

He graduated from Waikato University with an honours degree in law when he was “around 30-ish’’. He and Silvia had married when they were 23 and the youngest of their three children was born while he was still studying. 

Joseph Mooney says he is committed to listening and solving problems. PHOTO: SUPPLIED/JOSEPH MOONEY

Standing for Parliament was not something Mr Mooney was planning to do three months ago. But three months ago, National Party incumbent Hamish Walker was planning to stand again, until he fell from grace for leaking Covid-19 patient details.

Mr Mooney does not think his late start in the election race will hold him up during the next five weeks of campaigning.

He wants to meet as many people as possible, hear what they find challenging, and consider what a National-led Government could do to assist.

Two problems he would like to help resolve quickly are regional unemployment and work visa issues for migrant workers.

“We have got a lot of people who have lost or are losing their jobs in Queenstown and orchard growers in Alexandra and Clyde [who] are desperately looking for workers. There’s mounting concern they don’t have enough pickers for their cherries and stone fruit and applies in the near future. These problems are an hour away from each other and they need help from the Immigration Department to change the visa status for a lot of these people who have lost their jobs in Queenstown, so they can go and pick fruit.”

Mr Mooney is also keen to raise the profile of the primary sector and emphasise its importance to New Zealand’s economic survival, domestic food security and export revenue.

The looming closure of the Tiwai Point smelter is important to his electorate, and Mr Mooney is deeply concerned about it. But he frankly admits he has not yet got enough information about it yet to fully comment.

Mr Mooney said his main goal was to listen and find solutions to problems. The work would be “same but different’’ to his work as a trial lawyer.

“I love being a trial advocate. But I felt I had skills that would be of assistance. As an advocate your job is to listen to people and to absorb a large amount of information coming from a lot of sources and distill it into the most important facts to put in front of the decision maker. I thought those skills would be quite helpful,” he said.

Mr Mooney said he has empathy for folks around the region who are finding mind health a challenge at the moment.

“But out of adversity comes opportunity. Things do get better and I can say that because I have lived it many times myself,” he said.

Keeping fit for the bear pit at Parliament is high on his list of priorities. 

Mr Mooney rejuvenates by – you guessed it – spending time with his family, riding mountain bikes, skiing, and going for walks.