Values Party
Encyclopedia
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
party that pre-dated any fashionable Green terminology, was established in 1972 at Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, one of its initial leaders being Tony Brunt. Several party manifestos sketched a progressive, semi-utopian blueprint for New Zealand's future as an egalitarian, ecologically sustainable society. The party appealed especially to those elements of the New Left
New Left
The New Left was a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and United States in reference to activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist...
who felt alienated both by the small Marxist-Leninist parties of the day, as well as by the bread-and-butter centre-left politics of the New Zealand Labour Party
New Zealand Labour Party
The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....
. The party is widely regarded as the first national political party promoting social renewal that incorporated restoring a respectful relationship to nature. From its beginning, the Values Party was very concerned with proposing alternative policies, rather than taking only an oppositionist stance to the ruling parties.
The Values Party contested three elections (1972, 1975 and 1978) achieving 4% and 6% support in 1975 and 1978, did not gain seats under the first past the post electoral system in use at that time. It did however manage to get some candidates elected to local government. The first was Helen Smith
Helen Smith (New Zealand)
Helen Smith was a Porirua, New Zealand city councillor until 2001. First elected in a by-election in 1973 as a Values Party councillor, Smith stood as Values candidate for the Porirua electorate in the , and elections, gaining the highest number of votes of any Values Party candidate in the...
of Titahi Bay
Titahi Bay
Titahi Bay is a suburb of Porirua in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located at the foot of a short peninsula along the west coast of the Porirua Harbour, to the north of Porirua city centre. The suburb's population in 2006 was 7,527...
, who joined the Porirua
Porirua
Porirua is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand, immediately north of the city of Wellington, with their central business districts 20 km apart. A large proportion of the population commutes to Wellington, so it may be considered a satellite city. It almost completely surrounds...
City Council in 1973.
Values Party policies included campaigns against nuclear power and armaments, advocating zero population and economic growth, abortion, drug and homosexual law reform. Although the Values Party was never in parliament, it drew considerable attention to these topics. Many political scientists credit the Values Party with making the environment a political issue, and with prompting other parties to formulate their own environmental policies.
Under the mature leadership of polytech economics lecturer Tony Kunowski, the Values Party contested the 1978 general election with a considerable following, but again failed to win seats in parliament. Most probably this was mainly because voters at that time were more concerned about rapidly rising unemployment
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
than anything else. The idea of an ecological "zero-growth" society envisaged by Values Party members had met with the economic reality of near-zero GDP growth, high price inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
, and an investment strike by business. Thus, a critical majority of voters preferred Robert Muldoon
Robert Muldoon
Sir Robert David "Rob" Muldoon, GCMG, CH served as the 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984, as leader of the governing National Party. Muldoon had been a prominent member of the National party and MP for the Tamaki electorate for some years prior to becoming leader of the party...
's National Party of New Zealand, who promised to create many more jobs by borrowing foreign funds to build large infrastructural projects (the so-called "Think Big
Think Big
The New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon and his New Zealand National Party government in the early 1980s sponsored Think Big as an interventionist state economic strategy. The Think Big schemes saw the government borrow heavily overseas, running up a large external deficit, and using the...
" strategy developing oil, gas, coal and electricity resources).
Subsequent to the demoralising election result, the Values Party faced internal conflict between the "red" greens and the "fundamentalist" Greens, and it fragmented, amidst quarrels about organisational principles. Kunowski resigned as party leader, in order to pursue a successful career as a banker.
In May 1990, however, remnants of Values Party merged with a number of other environmentalist organizations to form the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is a political party that has seats in the New Zealand parliament. It focuses firstly on environmentalism, arguing that all other aspects of humanity will cease to be of concern if there is no environment to sustain it...
which eventually did gain a number of parliamentary seats. Many former members of the Values Party became active in the Green Party - notably Jeanette Fitzsimons
Jeanette Fitzsimons
Jeanette Mary Fitzsimons, CNZM is a New Zealand politician and environmentalist. She was the co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand from 1995 to 2009, and was a Member of Parliament from 1996 to 2010.-Career:...
, Rod Donald
Rod Donald
Rodney David "Rod" Donald , was a New Zealand politician who co-led the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, along with Jeanette Fitzsimons.He lived in Christchurch with his partner Nicola Shirlaw, and their three daughters....
and Mike Ward
Mike Ward (New Zealand)
Mike Ward JP is a Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand politician. He was an MP for one term from 2002-2005. He was co-leader of the Values Party from 1985 to 1988...
.
Electoral results (1972-1984)
| Election | candidates | seats won | votes | percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42 | 0 | 27,467 | 1.96 | |
| 87 | 0 | 83,241 | 5.19 | |
| 92 | 0 | 41,220 | 2.41 | |
| 17 | 0 | 3,460 | 0.19 | |
| 29 | 0 | 3,826 | 0.20 |