Larry Baldock

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When the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Bill, which would remove parental correction as a defence for assault against children, began to raise debate nationally, Baldock began organising a petition to force a referendum on the question, "Should a smack, as part of good parental correction, be a criminal offence in New Zealand?" With his wife Barbara, Baldock travelled all over New Zealand for the next 18 months. With the help of many volunteers and support from organisations like 'Family First' they collected approximately 310,000 signatures from voters, surpassing the 285,000 signatures, or 10 per cent of total voters, required to force a referendum. When it was held from 31 July to 21 August 2009 voter turnout was 56.1%, with 87.4% of voters answered 'no'. In June 2009, then Prime Minister John Key said that the government would change the law if it was not working, but that he believed the current law was working well. [1]

The Kiwi Party

On 16 May 2007, Baldock and his former colleague Gordon Copeland, then a United Future List MP, announced that they would be forming a new Future New Zealand party after expressing dissatisfaction with party leader Peter Dunne's support of the child-discipline bill. [2]

After the announcement that Copeland and Baldock would co-lead the new party, they held an inaugural party meeting in Tauranga, Baldock's city of residence, and stated that forty-five former members of the pre-merger Future New Zealand had attended, although the party had between sixteen and twenty members at that time. [3] Former United Future List MP Bernie Ogilvy also joined Future New Zealand, as party secretary.

On 17 July 2007, the Future New Zealand website's Copeland Chronicle (June 2007) edition announced that the Party had achieved its five hundred member goal required for registration under the New Zealand Electoral Act 1993 as a viable political party. The newsletter also stated that Copeland and Baldock would now work on establishing a Board of Management and Board of Reference for the party. [4]

On 28 January 2008, Future New Zealand was renamed The Kiwi Party. Baldock became sole party leader, while Copeland concentrated primarily on parliamentary matters. [5] Baldock successfully collected 390,000 signatures against the Child Discipline Act, which forced a referendum on the issue. Baldock has proposed giving parents the right to strike their children with implements stating, "I'm not opposed to the wooden spoon or ruler because you can control things with that better than you can with an open hand." [6]

In the 2008 general election, Baldock stood for the Tauranga electorate, but came a distant fourth, with approximately five per cent of the vote. [7] The Kiwi Party also performed poorly, receiving 0.54% of the party vote nationwide. [8]

Undaunted by its poor performance, the Kiwi Party held a conference in Christchurch in March 2009, and announced its intention to contest the 2011 general election. As The Family Party and New Zealand Pacific Party had been dissolved, it would have been the only Christian based party in the contest.

Conservative Party involvement

It was announced on 14 October 2011 that Kiwi Party members would not be running candidates for the 2011 election, instead standing for the Conservative Party, of which Baldock was ranked at number 3 on the 2011 party list. [9] Baldock also stood for the Conservatives in the Tauranga electorate in 2011 gaining just over 4% of the popular vote [10]

In April 2013 the Electoral Commission announced it had referred Baldock to the police for filing a false expenses return and for exceeding the $25,000 cap on election expenses. [11] Baldock maintained the error was made by others, and the police did not lay charges.[ citation needed ]

Larry Baldock declined to stand as the Conservative Party's candidate in Tauranga in August 2014 partly because he disagreed with the party's policy of abolishing the Maori seats and removing references to the Treaty of Waitangi from legislation and also over concerns about Party leader Colin Craig's behaviour and his autocratic decision making. [12]

He was removed from the Conservative Party's board before the end of 2014, and had his party membership suspended while he faced disciplinary action. The suspension was not related to his earlier policy disagreement. [13] The subsequent strange and erratic behaviour of Colin Craig certainly seemed to vindicate Baldock's concerns and actions.

Tauranga City Council

In October 2010 Baldock was successful in being elected back onto the Tauranga City Council. He was elected to the City Council again in 2016 and re-elected in 2019 and appointed deputy mayor of Tauranga by the newly elected Mayor Tenby Powell. He resigned as deputy mayor on 2 June 2020 after much internal fighting amongst the elected members. Ultimately all were replaced when the Minister of Local Government appointed Commissioners to run the city when Mayor Powell himself also resigned on November 20 later that year. [14] [15]

2023 general election

In early September 2023, Baldock announced he would be contesting the Tauranga electorate during the 2023 New Zealand general election as an independent candidate. [16] He received 1039 votes, which was the sixth highest of ten candidates. [17]

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Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?

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References

  1. ↑ "Key, Goff won't vote on smacking referendum". The New Zealand Herald . 16 June 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  2. ↑ "United Future MP quits party over smacking bill". The New Zealand Herald. 16 May 2008. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  3. ↑ Dan Eaton (22 May 2007). "Future NZ". The Press. p. A6.
  4. ↑ Copeland's Chronicle, June 2007
  5. ↑ "Copeland steps down as co-leader of Future NZ". Scoop Media. 25 January 2008. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  6. ↑ Collins, Simon (20 August 2009). "'No' vote campaigners divided on way forward after likely win". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 13 October 2011.
  7. ↑ "Election Results – Tauranga". Chief Electoral Office. November 2008. Archived from the original on 11 December 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
  8. ↑ "Election Results – Rongotai". Chief Electoral Office. November 2008. Archived from the original on 11 December 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
  9. ↑ Kiwi Party Members Join The Conservative Party
  10. ↑ "Election Results -- Tauranga". Archived from the original on 3 December 2011.
  11. ↑ "Referral to the Police 16 April 2013". New Zealand Electoral Commission. 16 April 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  12. ↑ Cousins, John (10 August 2014). "Conservatives' 'one law' not for Baldock". Bay of Plenty Times. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  13. ↑ Davison, Isaac (4 March 2015). "Colin Craig dismissed rumours as 'storm in teacup'". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  14. ↑ "Tauranga City councillor Larry Baldock resigns as deputy mayor, Tina Salisbury steps in". Bay of Plenty Times. 2 June 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  15. ↑ "Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell resigns". Radio New Zealand . 20 November 2020. Archived from the original on 26 July 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  16. ↑ "Larry Baldock runs for Tauranga electorate". SunLive. 4 September 2023.
  17. ↑ "Tauranga – Official Result". Electoral Commission. 6 November 2023.

Further reading

Larry Baldock
1st Leader of the Kiwi Party
In office
5 January 2008 –December 2011
Party political offices
New political party Leader of the Kiwi Party
2008–2011		Incumbent
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