The Sustainable New Zealand Party, also called Sustainable NZ, was a
political party in New Zealand
New Zealand national politics have featured a pervasive party system since the early 20th century. Usually, all members of Parliament's unicameral New Zealand House of Representatives, House of Representatives belong to a political party. Indep ...
. An
environmentalist
An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...
party, it had a focus on water,
native species
In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...
, and
sustainable economic growth
Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The desir ...
. It contrasted itself with the larger
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
by claiming to not be aligned with either side of the
political aisle and being prepared to work with either the
National Party or the
Labour Party.
Waitematā Local Board
The Waitematā Local Board is one of the 21 local boards of the Auckland Council, and is one of the three boards overseen by the council's Waitematā and Gulf Ward councillor.
The Waitematā board, named after the Waitematā Harbour which for ...
member
Vernon Tava
Vernon Ivan Tava is a barrister living in Auckland, New Zealand. He is the founder and leader of the Sustainable New Zealand Party and a former candidate for the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Education and business career
Vernon Tava gr ...
came up with the idea of Sustainable NZ in early 2019 and the party was launched in November 2019.
Mainstream media characterised the party as a "teal" or
"blue-green" group,
labelling rejected by Tava who insisted on characterising Sustainable NZ as a "green-green party".
[
]
On 15 December 2021, the party was deregistered and its logo cancelled at its own request.
Creation
New Zealand's largest and longest-lasting environmentalist party, the left-wing
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand ( mi, Rōpū Kākāriki o Aotearoa, Niu Tireni), commonly known as the Greens, is a green and left-wing political party in New Zealand. Like many green parties around the world, it has four organisational ...
, was founded in 1990 and first entered Parliament in 1996 as part of the
Alliance
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
, and later on its own in 1999.
[
] The party has been positioned on the left of New Zealand politics throughout its existence. After the
2017 general election
This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*5 November ...
, National suggested the idea of a National–Green Party coalition government that would have averted the possibility of
New Zealand First
New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...
in government; the idea was immediately dismissed by Greens leader
James Shaw. Consequently, Vernon Tava departed from the party in an effort to establish an environmental party that could work with either major party and potentially always be in government.
2020 general election
Sustainable NZ applied for registration with the Electoral Commission on 15 November 2019 and was registered on 4 December. In February 2020, the former secretary to the party, Helen Cartwright, declared that she was asked to falsify membership records to get the party registered. Cartwright claimed she had audited the membership fees and found they were 35 short of the 500 required, but that Tava suggested the party edit the party's financial documents to cover the discrepancy. Tava said that the party had acted in full compliance with the Electoral Act. Cartwright says that the party has retained its registration because it ultimately did have enough members.
By February 2020, four months after founding, a small number of members had left the party, including party secretary Helen Cartwright and the party treasurer.
Cartwright subsequently formed the
Integrity Party of Aotearoa New Zealand.
The party received a broadcasting allocation of $53,840 for the
2020 election.
As of May 2020, the party had not registered in any
public polling.
By the end of September 2020, it had registered in only one of Colmar-Brunton's polls, receiving 0.1% of support in its mid-September poll.
The party stood 11 list candidates, of which 10 were also electorate candidates. It won 1,880 party votes, 0.1% of the total,
and did not enter Parliament.
Activities after the 2020 election
On 15 December 2021, the party was de-registered and its logo cancelled at its own request.
On 18 April 2022, Sustainable New Zealand was listed by
Brian Tamaki
Brian Raymond Tamaki (born 2 February 1958), is a New Zealand fundamentalist Christian religious leader and far-right political activist. A Tainui man from the Ngati Ngawaero and Ngati Maniapoto tribes, he is the leader of Destiny Church, a ...
as one of the parties he was seeking to join
The Freedoms & Rights Coalition (TFRC), a proposed umbrella movement of
New Zealand minor parties.
Election results
House of Representatives
See also
*
Teal Deal
*
Progressive Green Party (New Zealand)
The Progressive Green Party was an environmentalist political party in New Zealand in the 1990s. It was a "blue-green" party – that is, one that is economically right-wing ("blue"), rather than left-wing ("red"), as well as environmentalist ("g ...
References
{{New Zealand political parties
2019 establishments in New Zealand
Centrist parties in New Zealand
Political parties established in 2019
Sustainability in New Zealand
Green political parties in New Zealand
Green liberalism