Ken Laban

Straight after leaving school he joined the New Zealand Police, working there for 16 years. He then briefly went into community work before entering broadcasting. In 1990 he became a sports commentator for TVNZ. In 2000 he began commentating rugby on Sky.^[1]

He was a noted rugby league player and played for the Wainuiomata Lions. His final game for the club was their victory in the 1990 Lion Red Cup final, where Wainuiomata beat Otahuhu 34–12, thought to be the first win by a non-Auckland team at Carlaw Park.^[4] He later coached rugby league until retiring in 1999.^[5]

Laban has had a Lower Hutt-based political and governance career for more than twenty years. In 2004 he stood for a seat on the Hutt Valley District Health Board (DHB) for the Labour Party affiliated Hutt 2020 ticket and was elected; he remained a member of the DHB until its disestablishment in 2022. In 2007 he stood for Mayor of Lower Hutt as the Hutt 2020 candidate, but was unsuccessful, in a close three-horse race with incumbent David Ogden and city councillor Ray Wallace.^[6] In 2010 he was elected to both the Hutt City Council as a councillor for the Wainuiomata ward and the Hutt Mana Charitable Trust as a trustee representing Lower Hutt. He continued on the Trust until 2022. In 2013 he stood down from the city council and won a seat on the Wellington Regional Council, which he retained in 2016, 2019 and 2022. In December 2024 he was appointed to the board of Sport New Zealand.^[7]

Laban contested the Lower Hutt mayoralty for a second time in the 2025 Hutt City Council election.^[8] He was successful, becoming Aotearoa's first Pasifika mayor.^[9]