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 Invercargill 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.^[10]

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.^[10] 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]