Victor Billot Alliance Party University of Otago clubs day 2008

Victor Billot is a former co-leader and electoral candidate for New Zealand's

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 ...

party. He is also known as a writer, musician, unionist, past editor of ''

Critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

'' magazine, and a performer in the bands Alpha Plan, Age of Dog and Das Phaedrus.

NewLabour and the Alliance Party

Billot was a founding member of the

NewLabour Party The NewLabour Party was a centre-left political party in New Zealand that operated from 1989 to 2000. It was founded by Jim Anderton, an member of parliament (MP) and former president of the New Zealand Labour Party. NewLabour was established b ...

, which was set up in 1989 by

Jim Anderton James Patrick Anderton (born Byrne; 21 January 1938 – 7 January 2018) was a New Zealand politician who led a succession of left-wing parties after leaving the Labour Party in 1989. Anderton's political career began when he was elected to th ...

. In 1991, NewLabour was one of four parties to form the

political party. He was a candidate for the Alliance in (at number eight on their

list A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...

), (

three 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

), and (

six 6 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 6 or six may also refer to: * AD 6, the sixth year of the AD era * 6 BC, the sixth year before the AD era * The month of June Science * Carbon, the element with atomic number 6 * 6 Hebe, an asteroid People ...

), contesting the electorate. In 2008, he was berated by the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

, for all the faults of the National Party when she mistook him for a supporter of that party. At the party's 2006 conference, held in Wellington, no co-leaders were elected. Instead the party decided to concentrate on internal reorganisation; Billot was elected president. At the 2007 national conference, held in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, two co-leaders were elected, Billot and Kay Murray, with

Paul Piesse Paul Egerton Piesse is a former co-leader of the Alliance, a New Zealand political party, and union activist. Biography Piesse has been heavily involved in the union movement, and has held a number of senior organisational roles. He was original ...

returning to his former role as Party President. Billot was co-leader for one year. Billot persuaded his

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 ...

friend and businessman

Jack Yan Jack Yan (; born 1972) is a New Zealand publisher, designer and businessman. He is best known as the founder and publisher of ''Lucire''. He ran for mayor of Wellington in 2010, and again in 2013, but was unsuccessful in both elections. Backgr ...

to stand for the Alliance in 2008; Yan was number 12 on the list, but did not contest an electorate.

Clare Curran Clare Elizabeth Curran (born 1960) is a New Zealand former politician who served as a member of the New Zealand Parliament for Dunedin South from 2008 to 2020. She was the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications, and Digital Media and Associate ...

, the

New Zealand Labour Party The New Zealand Labour Party ( mi, Rōpū Reipa o Aotearoa), or simply Labour (), is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descr ...

MP for from 2008 to 2020, has repeatedly encouraged Billot to join her party. He stepped down from his role as Spokesman and occasional co-leader of the Alliance Party in March 2014. Billot still engages in left wing activism in Dunedin, campaigning against cuts to postal services in 2015.

Professional life

Billot was the National Communications Officer for the

Maritime Union of New Zealand The Maritime Union of New Zealand is a trade union which represents waterfront workers, seafarers and related workers in New Zealand. It was formed in 2002 from the merger of the New Zealand Waterfront Workers' Union and the New Zealand Seafare ...

between 2003 and 2016. In January 2017 he began working as publicist for the Otago University Press. He writes a weekly column for ''

Newsroom A newsroom is the central place where journalists—reporters, editors, and producers, associate producers, news anchors, news designers, photojournalists, videojournalists, associate editor, residence editor, visual text editor, Desk Head, s ...

''.

Publications

Billot has published three poetry collections: * 2014: ''Mad Skillz For The Demon Operators'' * 2015: ''Machine Language'' * 2017: ''Ambient Terror'' His work has also appeared in Australian and New Zealand literary journals including Cordite, Meniscus, Minarets and Takahē.

Recordings

Billot has recorded several albums since the early 1990s with music groups in addition to a solo album, including: * 1996: ''City of Bastards'' by Alpha Plan * 2002: ''Plutocracy'' by Victor Billot * 2016: ''Machine Language'' by Alpha Plan

References

External links

Billot's official site

Indonesian crew members suffered 'months of abuse'
interview given to TVNZ News at 8 in 2011 (5:39) {{DEFAULTSORT:Billot, Victor New Zealand writers New Zealand musicians Alliance (New Zealand political party) politicians NewLabour Party (New Zealand) politicians Living people University of Otago alumni Unsuccessful candidates in the 2005 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2008 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2011 New Zealand general election Year of birth missing (living people)