Editing Values Party

{{Short description|Political party in New Zealand}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=June 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox political party
| country = New Zealand
| name = Values Party
| colorcode = {{party color|Values Party}}
| logo = Values Party of New Zealand logo.png
| leader = 
| chairman = 
| founder = [[Tony Brunt]]
| foundation = 30 May 1972<ref name="Barry-Frankland" />
| dissolution = 1990
| predecessor = 
| successor = [[Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand|Green Party]]
| ideology = [[Environmentalism]] <br> [[Progressivism]]
| position = 
| colours = {{colour box|{{party color|Values Party}}}} Green
| international = 
| european = 
| europarl = 
| headquarters = 
| website = 
}}
The '''Values Party''' was a [[New Zealand political party]]. It is considered the world's first national-level environmentalist party,<ref name="Barry-Frankland">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BXzsAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA461|title=International Encyclopedia of Environmental Politics|last1=Barry|first1=John|last2=Frankland|first2=E. Gene|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-13555-396-8|page=461|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=History {{!}} Green Party of Canada|url=https://www.greenparty.ca/en/party/history|website=www.greenparty.ca|quote=The first national green party in the world, the Values Party, was started in the early 1970s in New Zealand.}}</ref> pre-dating the use of "[[Green politics|Green]]" as a political label. It was established in May 1972 at [[Victoria University of Wellington]]. Its first leader was [[Tony Brunt]], and Geoff Neill, the party's candidate in the [[Dunedin North (New Zealand electorate)|Dunedin North]] electorate, became the Deputy Leader.<ref name=":0">{{cite web  |url = http://www.globalgreens.org/literature/dann/chapterfive  |title = From Earth's last islands: The development of the first two Green parties in Tasmania and New Zealand  |last = Dann  |first = Christine  |year = 1999  |website = Global Greens  |publisher = Lincoln University  |access-date = 23 February 2014  |quote = In June 1972 Geoff Neill, a PhD student and an assistant lecturer in economics and industrial relations, wrote to introduce himself. He had read an article about Values in the Otago University student paper, critic, and thought he could get support for Values in Dunedin from disillusioned Labourites and younger people. Before too long he had been made Deputy Leader and was writing to advise on the content of the manifesto.  |archive-date = 2 March 2014  |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140302001259/http://www.globalgreens.org/literature/dann/chapterfive  |url-status = dead  }}</ref>

==Policies and beliefs==
[[File:Values Party canvassing at Nambassa 1979 & 1981, New Zealand.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Values Party at the 1979 and 1981 [[Nambassa]] alternatives festival.]]
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]] who felt alienated by the small [[Marxist–Leninist]] parties of the day, and by the centre-left politics of the [[New Zealand Labour Party]]. From its beginning, the Values Party emphasised proposing alternative policies, rather than taking only an oppositionist stance to the ruling parties.<ref>Rosalie Steward. [http://www.greens.org/s-r/13/13-03.html Politics in New Zealand from Beginning to Breakthrough], ''Synthesis/Regeneration'' 13 (Spring 1997).</ref>

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 never sat in parliament, it drew considerable attention to these topics. Many political scientists{{which|date=February 2014}} credit the Values Party with making the environment a political issue, and with prompting other parties – even the German Greens – to formulate their own environmental policies.<ref name=":2" />

== Origins and organisation ==
The initial idea for a new New Zealand political party came in 1972 when [[Tony Brunt]], then a political student at [[Victoria University of Wellington|Victoria University]], was reflecting on his own research into the [[Club of Rome|Club of Rome's]] ''[[The Limits to Growth]]'' and [[Charles A. Reich|Charles Reich]]'s ''[[The Greening of America]]'' (among other publications). Brunt saw the potential for a new constituency driven by a new set of social and environmental values.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=The development of the first two Green parties New Zealand and Tasmania – Sotto le querce |url=https://sottolequerce.altervista.org/w/index.php?title=The_development_of_the_first_two_Green_parties_New_Zealand_and_Tasmania |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=sottolequerce.altervista.org}}</ref> Brunt met with his ex-''[[The New Zealand Herald|New Zealand Herald]]'' colleague Norman Smith who immediately became the party's "1st hand man" and organiser.<ref name=":2" />  "The media experience of Brunt and Smith stood them in good stead when it came to publicising the new party, and a former colleague on the ''New Zealand Herald'', Alison Webber founded the Auckland branch."<ref name=":1" /> At the first meeting of the nascent party on May 30 1972 at Victoria University concern was raised that they had no support, structure, finances - "who is going to support this party?" There was a long pause and finally the young David Parkyn, having hitchhiked down from Auckland, stood and was the first to offer his support.<ref name=":2" />  

==Values Party contestation of elections==
[[File:Tony Brunt and Alan Stanton 1972.jpg|thumb|right|Values Party leader [[Tony Brunt]] (left) with [[Nelson, New Zealand|Nelson]] candidate Alan Stanton<ref name="Coates">{{cite news |last1=Coates |first1=Ken |title=Speaking to candidates |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/press/1972/11/09/5 |work=The Press |date=9 November 1972 |location=Christchurch, NZ |page=5|via=PapersPast}}</ref> in 1972.]]
The Values Party contested six general elections in 1972, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1984 and 1987. Despite strong showings in 1975 and 1978 it 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, [[Helen Smith (New Zealand)|Helen Smith]] of [[Titahi Bay]], joined the [[Porirua City Council]] in 1973.<ref>[http://www.nzes.org/exec/getdata/NZ_elections_1972-93.xls New Zealand election results ]</ref>{{dead link|date=January 2023}} In 1974, party leader [[Tony Brunt]] was elected as a [[Wellington City Council]]lor and was re-elected in 1977.<ref>{{cite news |work = [[The Evening Post (New Zealand)|The Evening Post]] |title=New Councillor |date=16 October 1974 }}</ref>

In 1974, several Values candidates also ran unsuccessfully for office in Auckland's local government elections, including lawyer Reg Clough, who stood as a Councillor and received more votes than five of the [[New Zealand Labour Party|Labour]] candidates.<ref name="Bush">{{cite book |last1=Bush |first1=Graham W.A. |title=Advance in Order - The Auckland City Council from Centenary to Reorganisation 1971-1989 |date=1991 |publisher=Auckland City Council |isbn=0908834039 |page=360}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Values Party candidates |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19721027.2.54.8 |work=The Press |date=27 October 1972 |page=6|via=PapersPast}}</ref> Six candidates ran for the Auckland Hospital Board: [[Cherry Raymond]] (journalist and broadcaster) and Dr. Rex Hunton (medical director of the Auckland Medical Aid Centre)<ref>{{cite web |title=Hunton, Rexley Blake |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/38222085 |website=National Library of New Zealand |access-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> stood in the Auckland City ward; Keith Langton (lawyer) and Wayne Facer (university administrator) were in Waitemata City ward; Peter Wilcox (physician) and Isabella White (nurse) stood in the North Shore. Raymond was the strongest contender for the Hospital Board – receiving over 10,000 votes – though not enough to win a seat.<ref>{{cite news |title=Men will be in the minority |work=[[New Zealand Herald]] |date=14 October 1974 |page=3 (Section I)}}</ref><ref name="VV197409">{{cite journal |journal=Values Voice |title=Local Body Progress|date=September 1974 |volume=2 |issue=3|page=5|publisher=Values Party}}</ref><ref name="VV197410">{{cite journal |journal=Values Voice |title=Auckland Regional Newsletter|date=October 1974 |volume=2 |issue=4|page=1|publisher=Values Party}}</ref>

[[Mike Ward (New Zealand politician)|Mike Ward]] was a [[Nelson City Council]]lor from 1983 to 1989 under a Values banner.<ref>{{cite news|last=Neal |first=Tracy |title=Because they asked: a fourth bid to be mayor |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/4112323/Because-they-asked-a-fourth-bid-to-be-mayor |access-date=11 September 2010 |newspaper=[[The Nelson Mail]] |date=9 September 2010}}</ref> [[Jon Mayson]], a party co-leader in the 1980s, was elected a member of the Bay of Plenty Harbour Board on a Values Party ticket.<ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |title=The Management Interview: Jon Mayson – Leading with heart and soul |url=https://management.co.nz/article/management-interview-jon-mayson-leading-heart-and-soul |access-date=19 August 2022 |website=New Zealand Management |date=31 October 2002 }}</ref>

Under the leadership of polytechnic economics lecturer [[Tony Kunowski]] and deputy leader [[Margaret Crozier]], 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 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, and an [[Capital strike|investment strike]] by business. Although gaining fewer votes than the New Zealand Labour Party, [[Robert Muldoon]]'s [[New Zealand National Party|National Party]], which promised to create many more jobs by borrowing foreign funds to build large infrastructural projects (the so-called "[[Think Big]]" strategy, developing oil, gas, coal and electricity resources), was returned to government at the [[1978 New Zealand general election|1978 election]]. In the late 1970s the [[Alliance 90/The Greens|German Green Party]] wrote to the Values Party stating "we like your manifesto, can we use your policy?"<ref name=":2">{{Citation |title=Values Party Founding 40th Anniversary, Wellington 1 June 2012 | date=15 May 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEi7cQKCR_I |language=en |access-date=2022-09-16}}</ref>

===Electoral results===
{|  class=wikitable style=text-align:center
! Election
! candidates
! seats won
! votes
! percentage
|-
! {{NZ election link year|1972}}
| 42
| 0
| 27,467
|  1.96
|-
! {{NZ election link year|1975}}
| 87
| 0
| 83,241
| 5.19
|-
! {{NZ election link year|1978}}
| 92
| 0
| 41,220
| 2.41
|-
! {{NZ election link year|1981}}
| 17
| 0
| &nbsp;3,460
| 0.19
|-
! {{NZ election link year|1984}}
| 29
| 0
| &nbsp;3,826
| 0.20
|-
! {{NZ election link year|1987}}
| 9
| 0
| &nbsp;1,624
| 0.08
|}

==Decline of the party==
After the demoralising 1978 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 was ousted as party leader following the 1978 election leading him to pursue a career as a banker. He later joined the Labour Party and was elected to the [[Canterbury Regional Council]] on the Labour ticket.<ref>{{cite news |title=Canterbury Regional Council |work=[[The Press]] |date=12 October 1992 |page=4 }}</ref> In May 1979 [[Margaret Crozier]] became the leader with Cathy Wilson as deputy leader; it was the first time women had led a political party in New Zealand.<ref>{{cite news |last=Collins |first=Simon |title=Values' Top Man Ousted |work=[[The Evening Post (Wellington)|The Evening Post]] |date=12 May 1979 |page=1 }}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=Changing times : New Zealand since 1945 |last1=Carlyon |first1=Jenny |last2=Morrow |first2=Diana |publisher=[[Auckland University Press]] |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-86940-782-7 |location=Auckland |pages=221 }}</ref>

In November 1980 Crozier stated she would resign as leader at the 1981 party conference, citing disagreements and instability in the party.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19801125.2.31 |title=Leader to resign |work=[[The Press]] |date=25 November 1980 |page=3 }}</ref> At the April 1981 conference, delegates elected a three-way leadership with a "[[Triumvirate|troika]]" of co-leaders. [[Janet McVeagh|Janet Roborgh]], [[Jon Mayson]] and Alan Wilkinson.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19810420.2.11 |title=Values elects troika |work=[[The Press]] |date=20 April 1981 |page=1 }}</ref> The leadership reduced to two at the 1984 conference with Mayson and Wilkinson standing down and [[Mike Ward (New Zealand politician)|Mike Ward]] being elected alongside Roborgh.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19840827.2.7 |title=Values to form alliance? |work=[[The Press]] |date=27 August 1984 |page=1 }}</ref> Roborgh resigned at the 1988 conference and was replaced by Rosalie Steward, previously Values candidate for [[West Coast (New Zealand electorate)|West Coast]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19880411.2.60 |title=Values leader change |work=[[The Press]] |date=11 April 1988 |page=6 }}</ref>

By 1987 Values were using the description of the "Green Party of Aotearoa" and were increasingly advocating for [[proportional representation]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19870629.2.44 |title=Values nominates two candidates |work=[[The Press]] |date=29 June 1987 |page=4 }}</ref>

In July 1989 the ruling council of the party agreed in principle to wind up the party and balloted its 200 remaining members for approval.<ref>{{cite news |last=Stone |first=Andrew |title=Ruling council of Values Party agrees to call it a day |newspaper=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |date=24 July 1989 |page=3 }}</ref> However, in May 1990, remnants of the Values Party merged with several other environmentalist organisations to form the [[Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand]],<ref>{{Cite news |title=Greens merge |work=[[Auckland Star]] |date=28 May 1990 |page=A3 }}</ref> which entered parliament in 1996<ref>{{cite news |last=White |first=Mike |title=Are the Greens still scary? A political power comes of age |url=https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/currently-politics/are-the-greens-still-scary-a-political-power-comes-of-age |access-date=10 August 2020 |work=[[North & South (New Zealand magazine)|North & South]] |date=30 May 2017 |language=en-NZ |archive-date=21 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421124344/https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/currently-politics/are-the-greens-still-scary-a-political-power-comes-of-age |url-status=dead }}</ref> and formed part of the Government in 2017.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Phipps |first1=Claire |title=Jacinda Ardern is next prime minister of New Zealand, Winston Peters confirms – as it happened |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2017/oct/19/new-zealand-election-winston-peters-prime-minister-bill-english-jacinda-ardern-live?page=with:block-59e85c48389e4906e8cf9587#block-59e85c48389e4906e8cf9587 |access-date=1 September 2020 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=19 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200901100442/https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2017/oct/19/new-zealand-election-winston-peters-prime-minister-bill-english-jacinda-ardern-live?page=with%3Ablock-59e85c48389e4906e8cf9587%23block-59e85c48389e4906e8cf9587 |archive-date=1 September 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref> Many former members of the Values Party became active in the Green Party – notably [[Jeanette Fitzsimons]], [[Rod Donald]] and [[Mike Ward (New Zealand politician)|Mike Ward]].

==Party leadership==
[[Image:Values Party logo.png|thumb|right|Another Values Party logo]]
'''Leaders'''
* [[Tony Brunt]] (1972–74)
* Reg Clough (1974–76)
* [[Tony Kunowski]] (1976–79)
* [[Margaret Crozier]] (1979–81)

'''Co-leaders'''
*[[Jon Mayson]] (1981–84)
*Alan Wilkinson (1981–84)
*[[Janet McVeagh|Janet Roborgh]] (1981–88)
*[[Mike Ward (New Zealand politician)|Mike Ward]] (1984–90)
*Rosalie Steward (1988–90)

===Notable members and candidates===
<gallery class="center">
File:RodDonaldGreenMP.jpg|[[Rod Donald]]
File:Wayne Facer 1986.jpg|[[Abortion_Law_Reform_Association_of_New_Zealand#Founding_of_ALRANZ|Wayne Facer]]
File:Jeanette Fitzsimons.jpg|[[Jeanette Fitzsimons]]
File:Nicky Hager ONZM (cropped).jpg|[[Nicky Hager]]
File:Rex Hunton 2015 cropped.jpg|[[2002 Birthday Honours (New Zealand)#Member (MNZM)|Rex Hunton]]
File:Terry McDavitt, 1986.jpg|[[Terry McDavitt]]
File:Cherry Raymond 1968 cropped.jpg|[[Cherry Raymond]]
File:Guy Salmon ONZM (cropped).jpg|[[Guy Salmon]]
File:Alan Stanton 1972.jpg|[[Fairfield House, Nelson|Alan Stanton]]
File:Helen Mary Smith.jpg|[[Helen Smith (politician)|Helen Smith]]
File:Mike Ward (Sep 2010).JPG|[[Mike Ward (New Zealand politician)|Mike Ward]]
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Browning, Clare. (2012). ''Beyond today : a Values story.'' Wellington: C. Browning. {{ISBN|978-0-47320-955-1}} [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/796785893 OCLC]

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[https://www.globalgreens.org/literature/dann/chapterfive The development of the first two Green parties in New Zealand and Tasmania.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618053128/https://www.globalgreens.org/literature/dann/chapterfive |date=18 June 2018 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081010175959/http://www.greens.org.nz/about/history.htm The history of the NZ greens beginning with the Values Party]
*[https://archive.org/details/beyond-tomorrow-1975-values-party-manifesto/ 1975 Values Party manifesto] at Internet Archive 
*[https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/34315/values-party-1978 Tony Kunowski, Margaret Crozier and Terry McDavitt at the 1978 Values Party conference]
*[https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018845483/tony-brunt-50-years-since-founding-the-values-party Tony Brunt: 50 years since founding the Values Party.] Interview on [[Radio New Zealand|RNZ]], 11 June 2022

{{Historic New Zealand political parties}}

[[Category:Political parties established in 1972]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1990]]
[[Category:Defunct political parties in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Green political parties in New Zealand]]
[[Category:1972 in the environment]]
[[Category:1972 establishments in New Zealand]]
[[Category:1990 disestablishments in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Defunct green political parties]]