Larry Baldock
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Larry David Baldock (born 1954) is a New Zealand politician. Before entering national politics, he was involved with Youth With A Mission and spent 15 years living in the Philippines. After returning to New Zealand in 1996, he joined
Future New Zealand The Christian Democrat Party of New Zealand was a Christian socially conservative political party established in 1995. It contested the 1996 general election as part of the Christian Coalition with the Christian Heritage Party. It changed it ...
in 1999, standing as a candidate in the Tauranga electorate at that year's general election. In 2001, he was elected to the
Tauranga City Council Tauranga City Council is the local government authority for Tauranga City in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the 158,000 people of Tauranga. The last Mayor of Tauranga was Tenby Powell, who resigned in Novembe ...
, and served as a
list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs ...
for
United Future New Zealand United Future New Zealand, usually known as United Future, was a centrist political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside Labour (2005–2008) and then supporting National (2008–2017). U ...
from 2002 to 2005.


Political career


United Future MP

Baldock was elected to Parliament in the 2002 general election. Along with Murray Smith,
Bernie Ogilvy Bernard James Ogilvy is a New Zealand educator and politician. He was a list member of Parliament (MP) for the United Future New Zealand party from 2002 to 2005. He left United Future with the breakaway Kiwi Party in 2007. Early years Before e ...
, and Marc Alexander, Baldock failed to make it back to the 48th New Zealand Parliament in 2005, given
United Future New Zealand United Future New Zealand, usually known as United Future, was a centrist political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside Labour (2005–2008) and then supporting National (2008–2017). U ...
's drop in electoral support to one-third the level at the previous general election. Like Smith, Ogilvy and Adams, Baldock is a Christian.


Anti-smacking referendum

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 percent 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 Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to 2016. After resigning from bo ...
said that the government would change the law if it was not working, but that he believed the current law was working well.


The Kiwi Party

On 16 May 2007, Baldock and his former colleague Gordon Copeland, then a
United Future United Future New Zealand, usually known as United Future, was a centrist political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside Labour (2005–2008) and then supporting National (2008–2017). U ...
List MP, announced that they would be forming a new
Future New Zealand The Christian Democrat Party of New Zealand was a Christian socially conservative political party established in 1995. It contested the 1996 general election as part of the Christian Coalition with the Christian Heritage Party. It changed it ...
party after expressing dissatisfaction with party leader
Peter Dunne Peter Francis Dunne (born 17 March 1954) is a retired New Zealand politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ōhāriu. He held the seat and its predecessors from 1984 to 2017—representing the Labour Party in Parliament from 1984 ...
's support of the child-discipline bill. After the announcement that Copeland and Baldock would co-lead the new party, they held an inaugural party meeting in
Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...
, 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. Former United Future List MP
Bernie Ogilvy Bernard James Ogilvy is a New Zealand educator and politician. He was a list member of Parliament (MP) for the United Future New Zealand party from 2002 to 2005. He left United Future with the breakaway Kiwi Party in 2007. Early years Before e ...
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. On 28 January 2008, Future New Zealand was renamed
The Kiwi Party The Kiwi Party was a political party operating in New Zealand between 2007 and 2011. Briefly known as Future New Zealand, it was a breakaway from the United Future New Zealand party and sought to carry on the tradition of Future New Zealand. The ...
. Baldock became sole party leader, while Copeland concentrated primarily on parliamentary matters. Baldock successfully collected 390,000 signatures against the Child Discipline Act, which forced a
referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
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." In the 2008 general election, Baldock stood for the Tauranga electorate, but came a distant fourth, with approximately five percent of the vote. The Kiwi Party also performed poorly, receiving 0.54% of the party vote nationwide. 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. Baldock also stood for the Conservatives in the
Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...
electorate in 2011 gaining just over 4% of the popular vote 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. Baldock maintained the error was made by others, and the police did not lay charges. 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. 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. 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. . https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/431078/tauranga-mayor-tenby-powell-resigns


References


Further reading

*Larry Baldock and Stephen Monsma: ''Pursuing Justice in a Sinful World'': Auckland: Lifeway Trust: 2005:


External links


The Kiwi Party
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldock, Larry United Future MPs New Zealand activists People from Tauranga The Kiwi Party politicians Christian Democrat Party (New Zealand) politicians New Zealand list MPs New Conservative Party (New Zealand) politicians Unsuccessful candidates in the 2011 New Zealand general election 1954 births Living people Unsuccessful candidates in the 1999 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2005 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2008 New Zealand general election Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives 21st-century New Zealand politicians Tauranga City Councillors Deputy mayors of places in New Zealand