Do we like Hayley Holt?
Our score: 7 out of 10. A decent, climate-minded public record with nothing nasty found, held back from higher because there is little on record about LGBTQ+ issues.
Hayley Holt is an Aucklander who has been a professional snowboarder, a ballroom dancer, a radio host and a telly presenter. She joined TVNZ around 2017, became a Breakfast host in 2018, then moved to the 1 News sports desk in 2020. When she announced the move she said it would be hard to leave her Breakfast whānau after nearly three years on the show.
The political bit is the interesting bit. In late 2016 she announced she'd stand for the Greens, saying she'd always voted Green and that the party's policies on inequality and climate were “a natural fit”. She also fronted a Green campaign in Queenstown showing how warming temperatures could hurt the ski industry, which makes sense for a former snowboarder.
She ran in Helensville, John Key's old seat, and sat 17th on the Green list. She told the Whanganui Chronicle the party needed about 14.2 per cent of the vote to get her in, and joked that “if it all goes tits-up” she could move to Whanganui and open a market stall. She never held office, so there's no voting record to check, just a candidate's pitch.
On the harm check, there's honestly not much to report either way. Searches turned up no harmful comments about LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or public health, no conspiracy-theory slide, and no dodgy projects or company. What we did find is her publicly backing climate action and a fairer deal for vulnerable New Zealanders, but there's no specific record on trans or LGBTQ+ issues, and we'd rather say so than invent one.
On the good-person side, nothing came up: no court cases, lawsuits or allegations from co-stars or staff in the sources we checked. In 2025 she told the Herald she left TVNZ's sports role after the job was merged and she'd have had to reapply against long-serving presenter Andrew Saville, which she chose not to do. She also said “TVNZ has been great” to her, and is now studying for a financial services qualification.
Nothing new on her lately, no recent controversy and no fresh drama, just a presenter in a career change who said “I love change and I love a little bit of the unknown.” The record is thin rather than shiny, so we're calling it a solid pass on both tests, not a gushing one.