Anthony John Brunt (born 1947) is a New Zealand journalist, activist and politician. He was the founder and leader of the environmentalist

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 ...

in the 1970s.

Biography

Early life

Brunt was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

in 1947 and later became a journalist. He briefly changed profession and became a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

organiser before returning to his career in journalism. He then moved to

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

to study

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

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 know ...

Political career

Brunt became politically active and formed the environmentalist

in the early 1970s and served as its inaugural leader. He founded the party to serve as a response to the "barren and miniaturist" political culture that existed in New Zealand at the time. Then aged 25, Brunt was the youngest leader of a political party in New Zealand history. He went on to contest the

electorate of

Island Bay Island Bay is a coastal suburb of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, situated south of the city centre. Island Bay lies on the bay which shares its name, one of numerous small bays off Cook Strait and west of Lyall Bay. 500m offshore in ...

at the 1972 election, where he placed third out of six candidates, gaining 7.6% of the vote. Two years later, he stood for the Wellington mayoralty and City Council on a Values ticket. He placed third for mayor but was easily elected to the council. Brunt's candidacy for the mayoralty was viewed as having drawn away many left-wing voters from the Labour Party. Labour mayor

Frank Kitts Sir Francis Joseph Kitts (1 May 1912 – 16 March 1979) was a New Zealand politician. He was the longest-serving mayor of Wellington, holding the post from 1956 to 1974. He was the Labour Member of Parliament for between and 1960. Early life ...

lost office in a very close race and blamed the Values vote for his defeat. In

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

he again stood for both positions and was again elected only as a councillor, topping the poll with more votes than any other candidate. While he was a member of the Council, Brunt was also employed by the Commission for the Environment as an investigating officer. He did not stand for re-election in 1980.

Later activities

Brunt moved back to Auckland and settled in the suburb of Hillsborough. In 2000, he became the chairman of the Friends of Puketutu Trust, a lobby group campaigning for the

Manukau Harbour The Manukau Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in New Zealand by area. It is located to the southwest of the Auckland isthmus, and opens out into the Tasman Sea. Geography The harbour mouth is between the northern head ("Burne ...

island of Puketutu to be classified as a regional park.

Notes

References

External links

Tony Brunt: 50 years since founding the Values Party.
Interview on

RNZ Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...

, 11 June 2022 , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Brunt, Tony 1947 births Wellington City Councillors New Zealand trade unionists New Zealand journalists Unsuccessful candidates in the 1972 New Zealand general election Values Party politicians Living people Victoria University of Wellington alumni Leaders of political parties in New Zealand