In 2023 the populist right is still a mess

Eight populist parties will contest the 2023 election on similar platforms

Art by Daniel Vernon

Back in 2020 I wrote an article looking at the various fringe right-wing parties titled The crowded mess on NZs populist right. Back then, there were five parties competing for the same demographic: voters who were conservative, usually Christian, and open to conspiracy theory. When election day came, those parties collectively got 3% of the vote. This year, there are eight parties appealing to the same demographic (or arguably more, but I’ll get to that).

The New Conservatives are still around, though Leighton Baker, who led the party in 2020 now has a new party called… The Leighton Baker Party. His argument for a party named after himself is that he was the only minor party leader to reach 3% in a preferred prime minister poll, therefore he has the name recognition to get a party into parliament. 

The ONE Party has changed its name to NewZeal and is now led by former National MP Alfred Ngaro. Ngaro had raised the possibility of leading a new Christian party as early as 2019, when he was still a sitting MP. At the time, it was suggested he may have been looking at joining the New Conservatives. His decision to go with ONE follows a Christian Summit held in June by City Impact pastor Peter Morlock, aiming to coordinate efforts by evangelical Christians in the 2023 election. It was attended by representatives of New Conservative, ONE, and Brian and Hannah Tamaki, who lead the Destiny Church and its political wing Vision New Zealand. 

Seven mountains dominionism is an idea within Christian nationalism, positing that Chirstians need to infiltrate and have power in seven spheres of society- religion, family, education, government, media, arts & entertainment, and business. Notable adherents include the US Congresswoman Lauren Boebert. 

I had thought that if any of the fringe parties could unite, it would be New Conservative and ONE. The two parties ran a joint campaign in the 2022 Hamilton West byelection supporting Rudi du Plooy. Instead, an alliance has formed between Vision New Zealand, and the Sue Grey led Outdoors and Freedom Party. The resulting umbrella party is called FreedomsNZ, and du Plooy will stand for them in Hamilton West. 

The New Nation Party, led by Michael Jacomb, was under the FreedomsNZ umbrella until they decided to pull out “due to growing anxiety over our association with Brian Tamaki”. The New Nation Party’s South Island branch is led by Rob Willson, who stood for Advance New Zealand in 2020 and went on to become a key figure in the Agriculture Action Group. 

The sixth party in this space is DemocracyNZ led by former National MP Matt King, who, unlike any sitting MPs, visited protesters at the 2022 occupation of parliament grounds. One of DemocracyNZ’s candidates is Leao Tildsley, a co-host of Talanoa Sa’o and a former New Conservative Party candidate and board member.

With candidates playing musical chairs between “freedom movement” parties one could think that joining together wouldn’t be that difficult, but it is. New Conservative Party leader Helen Houghton met with Ngaro and King eight weeks out from the election (Baker was invited but unable to attend) and nothing came of it.

“Even though they hold many of the same values as New Conservatives, they want to go it alone” wrote Houghton in a press release where she called on past voters “not to be distracted by the new freedom parties”

Late in the game- just seven weeks out from the election date- two more parties managed to register, NZ Loyal led by Liz Gunn, the former newsreader who fell down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole during the pandemic, and Democracy Alliance. The latter plans to be an umbrella party for multiple small parties outside parliament, but currently has no component parties. [Continued after paywall]