Vision NZ

Vision NZ is a political party in New Zealand. It was announced on 23 May 2019 by Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki.[1]

Vision NZ
LeaderHannah Tamaki
SecretaryAnne Williamson
Founded23 May 2019 (2019-05-23)
IdeologyChristian fundamentalism
Christian nationalism
Māori rights
International affiliationNone
MPs in the House of Representatives
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The party, led by Hannah Tamaki, aims to become a vehicle for the "silent majority" to express their beliefs.[2] It aims to win support both in electorate seats and in the party-list vote in the 2020 New Zealand general election.[3] Tamaki plans to contest the electorate of Waiariki.[4]

History

Prior parties associated with the Tamakis
See also: Destiny Church (New Zealand) and Destiny New Zealand

Destiny Church was founded in 1998 by Brian Tamaki, and a political party, Destiny New Zealand, was formed in 2003. Destiny New Zealand contested the 2005 New Zealand general election; it received just over 14,000 party votes, or 0.62%, and won no seats. Destiny New Zealand was deregistered as a political party in 2007. The church supported The Family Party in 2008, but this party also won no seats and was deregistered in 2010.

Creation and registration

In May 2019, Hannah and Brian Tamaki announced the creation of a new party, at the time called Coalition New Zealand, with Hannah Tamaki to lead the party. She would not talk about policies at the announcement.[1]

In the days following the announcement, the party had not created a website,[5] and a number of other people registered relevant domain names and social media handles in order to troll the party.[6] On 10 July 2019 the party applied to the Electoral Commission for registration.[7] On 16 August the Electoral Commission refused registration on the grounds that the party's name and logo was likely to mislead voters.[8][9] In October 2019, the party announced a new name, Vision NZ, and a new logo, and applied to the Electoral Commission for registration. The Commission has stated that, apart from the name and logo, the party has met all other requirements for registration.[10] The registration was confirmed on 4 December.[11]

The party received a broadcasting allocation of $51,821 for the 2020 election.[12]

Relationship with other parties

By December 2019, the leaders of both major parties, Labour and National, had ruled out working with Vision NZ.[13]

In February 2020, Hannah Tamaki was understood to be a contestant on the upcoming Dancing with the Stars.[14] Later that month, media company MediaWorks New Zealand announced that while Tamaki was originally going to be on the show, it changed its mind and formally announced she was not to be in the show. A spokesperson said that "we have seen a very strong reaction, some of which has been extreme and concerning and MediaWorks does not condone bullying. We would be failing in our duty of care to everyone if we continued as planned."[15]

After a TV presenter commented on Tamaki's inclusion in Dancing with the Stars, Vision NZ's campaign manager Jevan Goulter made a post on Facebook about the presenter. The post breached Facebook's community guidelines, media site Stuff declined to publish them, and police are assessing a complaint laid about the post. Tamaki fired Goulter for these comments.[16][17] Tamaki was asked by a journalist about similar comments by her husband Brian, who referred to "venomous, dirty liberal left, sexually confused antichrists", but Mrs Tamaki said she was not responsible for her husband's comments as they are not related to Vision NZ.[18]

Policies

The party's leader, Hannah Tamaki, called for a ban on new mosques.[19] Tamaki has also talked about cutting immigration levels. Tamaki is against abortion and says that being gay is "wrong". Brian Tamaki has said that homosexuality is a sin and has maintained a link between homosexuality and natural disasters.[15]

The party seeks to remove the right of permanent residents to vote.[20] It supports greater financial autonomy for Māori people, including a Māori-owned bank, Tūhoe ownership of Te Urewera, and government funding for Destiny Church programmes.[21]


See also

References
  1. Melanie Earley (23 May 2019). "Destiny Church launches political party, promising 'politics with teeth'". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  2. Jamie Ensor (23 May 2019). "Hannah Tamaki to lead new political party Coalition New Zealand". Newshub. Retrieved 23 May 2019. On Thursday, Hannah was announced as the leader of the party, saying it is not a party just for Christians but for everyone who feels frustrated with the current Government.
    Brian promised the party would be a 'vehicle' for the 'silent majority' to express their beliefs.
  3. Jamie Ensor (23 May 2019). "Hannah Tamaki to lead new political party Coalition New Zealand". Newshub. Retrieved 23 May 2019. Hannah wouldn't go into details about what electorate seats the party would target or who would stand in them. But she did say they would be focussing on both the five percent threshold and winning a seat.
  4. "Vision NZ leader Hannah Tamaki to run for seat in general election". RNZ. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  5. "Chase star Paul Sinha takes a parting swipe at Brian and Hannah Tamaki". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  6. "Kiwis continue to troll the Tamakis' Coalition Party, snapping up domain names". =Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  7. "Application to register Coalition New Zealand party and logo". New Zealand Electoral Commission. 10 July 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  8. Kendall Hutt (16 August 2019). "Electoral Commission refuses to register Destiny Church-derived party, Coalition NZ". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  9. "Hannah Tamaki's Coalition NZ Party denied party registration". New Zealand Herald. 16 August 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  10. Walls, Jason (2 October 2019). "Destiny Church's Hannah Tamaki registers new political party name Vision NZ". New Zealand Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  11. "Registration of political parties and logos". Electoral Commission. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  12. "2020 Broadcasting Allocation Decision Released". Electoral Commission. 29 May 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  13. OBrien, Tava (16 December 2019). "Ardern, Bridges rule out working with Hannah Tamaki's Vision NZ". MSN. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  14. "'Dancing with the Stars' could wrong-foot aspiring politician Hannah Tamaki". RNZ. 24 February 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  15. "Mediaworks confirms Hannah Tamaki will not be on Dancing with the Stars". RNZ. 25 February 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  16. Downes, Siobhan (25 February 2020). "Hannah Tamaki sacks campaign manager following 'hate speech' against Kanoa Lloyd". Stuff. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  17. Downes, Siobhan (25 February 2020). "Hannah Tamaki's campaign manager sacked as police consider social media complaint". Stuff. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  18. Checkpoint (25 February 2020). "Hannah Tamaki condemns attack post but dismisses husband Brian's similar post". RNZ. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  19. "Destiny Church's Hannah Tamaki calls for ban on new mosques". New Zealand Herald. 11 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  20. Vision NZ (24 October 2019). "Only NZ citizens should vote". Scoop. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  21. "Hannah Tamaki announces Vision NZ policies". Otago Daily Times. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2020.


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