{"id":20585,"date":"2025-09-13T19:36:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T19:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/20585\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T19:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T19:36:09","slug":"real-housewives-star-anne-batley-burton-trades-tv-spotlight-for-local-politics-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/20585\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Housewives star Anne Batley-Burton trades TV spotlight for local politics bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

After decades in business, Anne is confident that her people skills will be one of her greatest assets if elected.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father always used to say I should be an ambassador\u2019s wife, and I would say, \u2018Why not the ambassador?\u2019\u201d she laughs. \u201cI think that\u2019s important if you\u2019re going into politics<\/a>. It\u2019s not just about you and the issues you want to push, it\u2019s about hearing what other people want and what their needs are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnneAnne is confident that her people skills will be one of her greatest assets if elected. Photo \/ NZ Woman’s Weekly<\/p>\n

Another reason Anne has decided to toss her hat into the ring is that, after years of running the New Zealand Cat Foundation almost entirely on her own, she finally has a solid team of staff and volunteers to help keep the sanctuary running.<\/p>\n

She knows that if voters choose her to help make the city a better place, her beloved rescue cats<\/a> will be in good hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have somebody who handles the fostering and adoption, we have someone who organises the volunteers and gives them an orientation when they arrive, and I have a really good manager,\u201d she enthuses. \u201cWe even have someone who looks after our TikTok. It\u2019s been invaluable because everything isn\u2019t falling on my shoulders all the time any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her excitement for the future has been important for Anne in the past few months after breaking her shoulder in a scary accident.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Anne and her husband Richard were about to set off for a weekend away when she noticed the neighbour\u2019s cat exploring their driveway. She went to return it to the neighbours, afraid it would wander behind the car and get hit.<\/p>\n

As she was walking back, Richard decided to be chivalrous and reverse down the driveway to pick her up. But the cat suddenly reappeared behind the vehicle. Anne raced to rescue it, but Richard did not see her and the car\u2019s sensors didn\u2019t activate, so he hit her with the large SUV.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m facing the road, trying to move the cat, when suddenly … Boom!\u201d Anne recalls. \u201cI\u2019m lucky I\u2019m alive because it hurled me. My knees were black and blue, I smashed down on my hands and my shoulder went straight into the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anne says she usually avoids taking painkillers, but she was in so much agony, she gladly accepted medication from her helpful neighbour while they waited for the ambulance.<\/p>\n

At the hospital, doctors confirmed she had broken her shoulder<\/a>. Thankfully, it wasn\u2019t displaced, so she didn\u2019t need surgery. However, it had to be taped up and she couldn\u2019t move it for eight weeks so the bone could properly set.<\/p>\n

Even now, Anne is only allowed minimal movement and it could take up to six months to heal completely.<\/p>\n

\"HerHer husband, Richard, is more than happy to help. Photo \/ NZ Woman’s Weekly<\/p>\n

Luckily, Richard, whom she affectionately calls Cuddly, has been more than happy to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has had to do everything for me,\u201d she shares. \u201cWhen my knees were still sore, I couldn\u2019t even bend down to put the cat food on the ground. He helps me get my arm through my dressing gown and pulls up my stockings. I even have to get him to backcomb my hair!<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was getting a bit stressed because he\u2019s busy, but I said, \u2018It\u2019s not my fault. If you hadn\u2019t hit me, I\u2019d be okay,\u2019\u201d Anne laughs.<\/p>\n

With the campaign now on, Anne is focused on her mission. And while she has big plans for Auckland, her main hope is that people engage with their local elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no point complaining about how bad things are if you\u2019re not going to vote,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After decades in business, Anne is confident that her people skills will be one of her greatest assets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[18316,21636,1040,21639,21642,7797,2550,2082,8577,21640,21635,9207,424,440,19133,5829,21641,111,139,69,21643,135,6115,6180,213,13172,2737,21638,21637,437,102],"class_list":{"0":"post-20585","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-anne","9":"tag-batleyburton","10":"tag-bid","11":"tag-champagne","12":"tag-collection","13":"tag-elections","14":"tag-even","15":"tag-for","16":"tag-horizon","17":"tag-housewife","18":"tag-housewives","19":"tag-lady","20":"tag-life","21":"tag-local","22":"tag-looking","23":"tag-many","24":"tag-moniker","25":"tag-new-zealand","26":"tag-newzealand","27":"tag-nz","28":"tag-politician","29":"tag-politics","30":"tag-real","31":"tag-shes","32":"tag-sports","33":"tag-spotlight","34":"tag-star","35":"tag-titles","36":"tag-trades","37":"tag-tv","38":"tag-with"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}