Tony Brunt
Tony Brunt | |
|---|---|
| 1st Leader of the Values Party | |
| In office 30 May 1972 – 25 August 1974 | |
| Deputy | Geoff O'Neill |
| Succeeded by | Reg Clough |
| Member of the Wellington City Council | |
| In office 12 October 1974 – 11 October 1980 | |
| Constituency | At-large |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Anthony John Brunt 1947 (age 76–77) Auckland, New Zealand |
| Political party | Values |
| Alma mater | Victoria University |
| Profession | Journalist |
Anthony John Brunt (born 1947) is a New Zealand journalist, activist and politician. He was the founder and leader of the environmentalist Values Party in the 1970s.
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
Brunt was born in Auckland in 1947 and later became a journalist. He briefly changed profession and became a trade union organiser before returning to his career in journalism.[1] He then moved to Wellington to study political science at Victoria University of Wellington.[2]
Political career[edit]
Brunt became politically active and formed the environmentalist Values Party 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.[3] Then aged 25, Brunt was the youngest leader of a political party in New Zealand history.[4] He went on to contest the Wellington electorate of Island Bay at the 1972 election, where he placed third out of six candidates, gaining 7.6% of the vote.[5]
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 lost office in a very close race and blamed the Values vote for his defeat.[6] In 1977 he again stood for both positions and was again elected only as a councillor, topping the poll with more votes than any other candidate.[7] Brunt opposed extending the Wellington Urban Motorway to the foot of Mount Victoria.[8] While he was a member of the Council, Brunt was also employed by the Commission for the Environment as an investigating officer.[9] He did not stand for re-election in 1980.
Later activities[edit]
In the 1980s Brunt was chairman of the campaign committee of the Save the Rivers campaign to protect New Zealand's best wild and scenic rivers.[10] Brunt later 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 island of Puketutu to be classified as a regional park.[11]
Publications[edit]
- Brunt, Tony. & Samoa Historical and Cultural Trust. (2017). To walk under palm trees : the Germans in Samoa : snapshots from albums. Apia, Samoa : Samoa Historical & Cultural Trust. OCLC 1030297521.
Notes[edit]
- ^ "New Councillor". The Evening Post. 16 October 1974.
- ^ Davison, Isaac (30 May 2012). "Political party marks 40 year milestone". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
- ^ O'Brien, Tova (1 June 2012). "Forty years since first green party". Newshub. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
- ^ "Tony Brunt, 'Reluctant Midwife' to Lusty, Growing Values Party". The Evening Post. 18 November 1972. p. 5.
- ^ Norton 1988, pp. 256.
- ^ "Values Eye No. 1 City Job". The Dominion. 20 April 1977.
- ^ Smyth, A.J. (25 October 1977). Declaration of Election Results (Report). Wellington City Council.
- ^ Yska, Redmer (2006). Wellington: Biography of a City. Auckland: Reed Books. p. 216. ISBN 9780790011172.
- ^ "Values Name Three More Candidates". The Evening Post. 20 April 1977.
- ^ "River protection 'inadequate'". The Press. 21 October 1981. p. 11.
- ^ Rudman, Brian (23 August 2000). "Gem of an idea for our project". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
References[edit]
- Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
External links[edit]
- Tony Brunt: 50 years since founding the Values Party. Interview on RNZ, 11 June 2022