The Phoenix Party was a short-lived left-wing political party in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.
It was founded by Gerald Williams, formerly an organiser for the
Labour Party. During
Norman Kirk
Norman Eric Kirk (6 January 1923 – 31 August 1974) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 29th prime minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974.
Born into poverty in Southern Canterbury, Kirk left school at a ...
's leadership of Labour (1965–1974), Williams came to disagree with a number of Labour Party policies, particularly over the policy of giving state funding to church schools. Believing that the Labour Party was becoming moribund, Williams founded the Phonenix Party. The name is an allusion to the mythical
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
, representing Williams' hope that the party would "rise from the ashes" of the Labour Party.
Williams was the party's only candidate, and attracted a certain number of protest votes. In the
1969 elections, he contested the
Dunedin Central
Dunedin Central was a parliamentary electorate in the city of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand from 1881 to 1890 and 1905 to 1984.
Population centres
The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the 1875–1876 election. In th ...
electorate, placing fourth (with 365 votes). He continued to criticise the Labour Party by means of satire. Williams later became a member of the
Values Party
The Values Party was a New Zealand political party. It is considered the world's first national-level environmentalist party, pre-dating the use of "Green" as a political label. It was established in May 1972 at Victoria University of Wellingto ...
, the world's first national-level environmentalist political party.
Defunct political parties in New Zealand
{{NewZealand-party-stub