Matt King chose the Auckland electorate of New Lynn to hold his first major campaign meeting this evening, after the launch of his new party in March this year. It was a brave choice of electorate, given both the Labour and Green parties individually received more party votes than any other party at the last election, in this particular electorate. The meeting was held at the Titirangi War Memorial Hall, to an almost full house. This reporter estimates there were approximately 150 people present. The carpark was full and vehicles overflowed to neighbouring streets.

The opening lines set the tone for the evening – the basis for the formation of the party was the Convoy 2022 protest in Wellington. Many of the attendees had been involved in the protest. King capitalised on the emotion from the protest by playing a video that memorialised the moments, reminding the audience he had been there to listen to the people.

He was careful to name-drop several figures who have been key in leading covid vaccine scepticism in NZ, Guy Hatchard and Simon Thornley were among them. Many testimonials of vaccine injured were drawn upon. King referred to his championing of the mandate challenge by NZ police and NZDF, stating the NZDF’s continuation of its mandate was now illegal in the face of the High Court ruling. He also revealed that the Police Commissioner Coster did not want to appeal the ruling. The Government has stated it will be lodging an appeal.

Political Strategy

King strongly believes he will win the Northland seat back from Labour at the next election. He reminded the audience that the seat was lost by the slimmest margin in the country, by 163 votes. He referred to his 14-yr career in the NZ police and attributed 220 of the lost votes to prison inmates in the electorate he had been responsible for incarcerating.

With an electorate win as an assumption, King is confident that his party Democracy NZ will then be able to bring in 5-6 new MPs and thus become the new coalition partner for the National Party. King does not believe that any minor party will breach the 5% threshold nor win an electorate (other than his own).

King intends to build a solid team of candidates for his party but expects that most will have to fund their own campaigns at the next election. He is clearly seeking funds for his campaign and stated “money is everything”.

He claims an “open mind” is being kept with regard to doing deals with other parties but expects that if he joins with another party then he may stand to lose more support than he might gain.

He also claims that there are “real skeletons” in the other minor parties. He emphasised several times that he wants “no scandals” and is carefully vetting all potential candidates and volunteers to that end.

King was careful to remind the audience that he has relationships with all the other parties and is a “known quantity” to them, thus that they would be keen to do deals with him. The implication is that other minor parties currently outside of Parliament would not enjoy the same advantage.

He did not comment on NZ First or Winston Peters.

Policy Bottom Line

Contrary to the oft-stated stance of the ACT party leader David Seymour that he “has no bottom lines”, King clearly stated that adherence to the NZ Bill of Rights for any legislation is his. He stated that Confidence support by his party would depend on National and ACT not pushing through any legislation that contravened the NZBOR through cross-floor numbers. He underscored this stance by saying that “the BOR is to be inviolate and the line in the sand”.

King referred to witnessing and being part of legislation being rushed through Parliament in 2 days with no debate, that he thought that was “wrong”.

He did not explain his vote supporting the first tranche of firearms legislation or associated amendments in 2019, given his view on the NZBOR. We note that that piece of legislation and associated amendments in 2019 were all rushed through Parliament with King’s vote in support.

He also did not elaborate on the significant allowances that are contained in the NZBOR that permit restrictions on rights by Parliament.

King stated that he used to be a fan of 4-yr terms but has now changed his mind. He believes that National will want to repeal many of the pieces of legislation that the current Government has passed but notes that historically, National does not do so. He believes that National might seek to place the blame on a minor coalition partner such as himself to do so. He did not comment on whether or not he would support any legislation that would restrict the power of future Parliaments.

King also stated that “bodily autonomy is sacred” for him. He was questioned on his votes for both the euthanasia (supported) and abortion (opposed) legislation.

Covid Vaccine Scepticism

Vaccine mandates and scepticism of the covid vaccine are central to Democracy NZ’s raison d’être. King says that Guy Hatchard is writing policy for him, naming key areas of health and education.

Interestingly, he labelled government figures and agents who had been part of the mandates as “evil”. He intends introducing whistle-blower protection legislation, as exists in overseas jurisdictions to protect those within an organisation who wish to come forward.

He also will push for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Government’s handling of the covid situation, with an end to recommending prosecution for those responsible. Those who have suffered injuries from covid vaccines are clearly a focus for him. He believes that those who have had “a decent dose of myocarditis” have a 5-yr life expectancy.

Other Policy Positions & Commentary

• Against a cashless society
• Marsden Point is a strategic asset
• Thinks Ardern with resign this year
• Doesn’t believe the last election was “dodgy”
• Wants to cancel the use of pine trees to offset emissions
• Opposes the ban on gas and believes NZ should use all its resources

Merchandise for Democracy NZ was available for sale at the end of the meeting.