Sir Robert Edward Jones (born 24 November 1939) is a property investor, author and former
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
in New Zealand. During the course of various political campaigns, he has developed a reputation for making highly controversial off-the cuff remarks.
Biography
Jones was born in
Lower Hutt on 24 November 1939, the son of Edward L. Jones.
He is the older brother of author
Lloyd Jones.
Growing up in a
Lower Hutt state housing
State housing is a system of public housing in New Zealand, offering low-cost rental housing to residents on low to moderate incomes. Some 69,000 state houses are managed by Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, most of which are owned by the ...
suburb, Jones attended
Naenae College from 1953 to 1957. He was one of the 200 foundation pupils, and one of the ten who stayed to the
sixth form
In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...
(most pupils left as soon as they turned 15 to work) where he recalled a brilliant history teacher, Guy Bliss. He went on to attend
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand.
The university is well kno ...
, where he earned a
blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
in
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...
, won the New Zealand Universities lightweight boxing title in 1957, and contributed to a boxing column in the university's newspaper ''
Salient''.
He remained a fan of boxing and sometimes commented on TV on big matches.
Jones earned his wealth through investments in commercial property via his company Robt. Jones Holdings Ltd, and was worth $550 million according to the 2013
NBR rich list, and $600 million a year later.
Jones formed the short-lived
libertarian New Zealand Party
The New Zealand Party operated as a political party in New Zealand from 1983 to 1993. Established by millionaire property tycoon Bob Jones, the party promoted economic liberalisation—it was the first political party to promote free market ref ...
in 1983, just before
Robert Muldoon's snap
1984 election. Jones explicitly stated his disgust that the supposedly pro-free-enterprise
New Zealand National Party had implemented socialist policies like price and wage freezes, and a top tax rate of 66%. His party acted as a
spoiler
Spoiler is a security vulnerability on modern computer central processing units that use speculative execution. It exploits side-effects of speculative execution to improve the efficiency of Rowhammer and other related memory and cache attacks. Ac ...
, helping to deliver the government to the
New Zealand Labour Party. Then the party implemented free market reforms under Finance Minister
Roger Douglas
Sir Roger Owen Douglas (born 5 December 1937) is a retired New Zealand politician who served as a minister in two Labour governments. He became arguably best known for his prominent role in New Zealand's radical economic restructuring in the 19 ...
(hence
Rogernomics
In February 1985, journalists at the '' New Zealand Listener'' coined the term Rogernomics, a portmanteau of "Roger" and "economics" (by analogy with "Reaganomics"), to describe the neoliberal economic policies followed by Roger Douglas. Dougl ...
). When the election was over, Jones disbanded the party, seeing that Labour had implemented many of his policies. He and Muldoon had a legal feud, where Muldoon unsuccessfully sued Jones for defamation. But Jones had great respect for Muldoon in other areas. Jones even chaired the farewell dinner on the occasion of Muldoon's retirement from Parliament.
In the 1984 election Jones stood for the Ohariu seat, held by cabinet minister
Hugh Templeton
Hugh Campbell Templeton (born 24 March 1929) is a former New Zealand diplomat, politician and member of parliament for the National Party.
Early life and family
Templeton was born in Wyndham, Southland, in 1929. He was educated at Gore Hi ...
. Templeton distributed a speech to journalists, which included the statement "Mr Jones despises... bureaucrats, civil servants, politicians, women, Jews and professionals...". Jones successfully sued Templeton for defamation. Templeton conceded the comment Jones despised Jews was untrue, but claimed to have a number of defences such as qualified privilege; all were rejected by the court, which found in Jones favour.
Templeton v Jones became an important precedent in defamation law.
In 1985, Jones was located by reporters in a helicopter while out fishing in a remote valley in
Taupo. Jones, incensed at the intrusion when the helicopter landed on the adjacent bank, famously punched TVNZ reporter
Rod Vaughan, with the whole incident recorded on tape.
[NZ On Screen: Eyewitness News - Bob Jones punches reporter Rod Vaughan](_blank)
, nzonscreen.com; accessed 24 April 2016. Jones was convicted of four charges of assault and fined $1,000. Jones asked the judge if he could pay $2,000 to do it again.
Jones attempted to remove the
Fijian Embassy from one of his properties during the time of the
1987 Fijian coup and succeeded two years later.
In 2015, Jones was removed from an
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacif ...
flight by security staff for failing to follow crew instructions. Jones' company subsequently bought a jet for Jones and other company executives to use for NZ travel.
In 2018 Jones sued filmmaker
Renae Maihi for defamation after she presented a petition to NZ Parliament calling for his knighthood to be revoked. The petition had garnered more than 90,000 signatures but was not accepted for consideration. The petition objected to comments Jones had written for the National Business Review. In one of Jones' newspaper columns, Jones suggested that the country's national holiday
Waitangi Day
Waitangi Day ( mi, Te Rā o Waitangi), the national day of New Zealand, marks the anniversary of the initial signing – on 6 February 1840 – of the Treaty of Waitangi, which is regarded as the founding document of the nation. The first Wai ...
, should be replaced by a Maori Gratitude Day, a suggestion he claimed was satirical.
The defamation trial began in February 2020 and was due to last 2 weeks. Ultimately, Jones withdrew the case after five days.
Honours
Jones was appointed a
Knight Bachelor
The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are th ...
in the
1989 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to business management and the community.
Bibliography
Novels
* The Permit (1984)
* Full Circle (2000)
* Ogg (2002)
* True Facts (2003)
* Degrees for Everyone (2004)
* Four Comic Novellas (2020)
Essay collections
* Wimp Walloping (1989)
* Prancing Pavonine Charlatans (1990)
* Punch Lines (1991)
* A Year of It (1992)
* Wowser Whacking (1993)
* No Punches Pulled The Best of Bob Jones (2014)
Non fiction
* New Zealand's Boxing Yearbook (1972 and 1973)
* Jones on Property (1977)
* New Zealand the Way I Want It (1978)
* Travelling (1980)
* Letters (1982)
* '80s Letters (1990)
* Prosperity Denied (1996)
* Memories of Muldoon (1997)
* My Property World (2005)
* Jones on Management (2007)
* Fighting Talk: Boxing and the Modern Lexicon (2013)
References
External links
Bob Jones, centre, in 1979 (photo)
Robt. Jones Holdings Ltd websiteRandom House author profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Bob
1939 births
Living people
Leaders of political parties in New Zealand
New Zealand Knights Bachelor
People from Lower Hutt
Victoria University of Wellington alumni
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1984 New Zealand general election
People educated at Naenae College
New Zealand Party politicians
New Zealand libertarians
Businesspeople awarded knighthoods
20th-century New Zealand businesspeople
21st-century New Zealand businesspeople