For the last few weeks, Matt King has been travelling around the country holding public meetings as part of the Democracy New Zealand roadshow. This tour of public meetings is the chance for Matt King to advertise his party and explain its platform.
Matt King was the MP for Northland, beating Winston Peters in the 2017 elections before losing that seat to Labour candidate Willow-Jean Prime. In November 2021, Matt King hosted a live stream with Dr Simon Thornley of Covid Plan B which led to the National Party distancing itself from him. He then joined the 2022 Freedom Convoy speaking at Parliament where he announced the launching of a new party.
I went to the Wellington stop of Matt King’s Democracy New Zealand Roadshow. It was held at the Harbourside Venue Centre the night before he would formally register the party with the Electoral Commission.
The talk began with us singing the national anthem. The presentation itself was accompanied by various videos. Matt King was entertaining and charismatic. He explained his background as a former cop turned farmer before recounting his story with Dr Simon Thornley. He then explained his platform which focused on democracy and the Bill of Rights.
He showed a video of Michael Baker on TV admitting that masks won’t work immediately followed by him suggesting that masks be mandatory. He then shared about the night that the Covid Health Response Act was passed when he was still a sitting MP. He shared that he was given one night to read it and saw the dangers of the Bill.
He showed us a video put together about the Freedom Convoy. He then recounted his experiences of the convoy where he reminded us that everyone was there, including serving police officers. He showed a montage of photos from the fateful 23rd day when the police moved in to clear the occupation.
He also shared why he left the National Party because he saw the opportunity the National Party wasted by not opposing the mandates. He also had been strongly advocating for National MPs to at least go outside to talk to the protestors during the occupation.
He explained more about the interview he did with Simon Thornley in which he explained that he invited Dr Michael Baker and others to organise a debate. He offered to live stream and invite a neutral coordinator. His invitation so far has not been accepted.
He focused on four things for his platform: Media, Law and Order, Democracy and Freedom.
His priority was to get the current Labour Government out, which he stressed did not make him anti-Labour, just against this current Government. He emphasised there had been good Labour governments and bad Labour governments as well as good National governments and bad National governments. But these four things mentioned above were things he focussed on.
For media, he believed in pulling or at least restricting public funding of media as well as better protection of whistleblowers and citizen journalists.
For law and order, he advocated better protection for victims and tougher sentences for criminals. He told the audience about the bills blocked including his ‘cowardly punch’ bill to criminalise ‘king hits’.
For medical freedom, he wanted an overhaul of the Covid Health Response Act which he said was easy to do since the law had been passed under urgency. He proposed a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the damage done by vaccines.
Matt King also unveiled his campaign strategy. At the time of writing he would not reveal any of his policies or candidates until later; however, he assured us he had candidates ready to stand. This was because he didn’t want his ideas copied or stolen.
He is planning to target certain electorates. Of course, he sees two ways of getting in: either receiving 5% of the party vote or winning his electorate of Northland. However, he listed three non-negotiables that would be part of any confidence and supply agreement: entrenching the New Zealand Bill of Rights; no race-based policies; and protection of private property rights.
His new party has four values: democracy and equality, openness and inclusiveness, a resilient economy and protection of the environment. Otherwise, he would be willing to be a neutral third party that backs either coalition.
Some questions were asked of him. One asked him about merging with other parties. His answer was that he did not completely trust some of the other parties but that he was still open to and still talks with them. When asked if he would go with National, his answer was that he was willing to go with anyone but the current Government.
I managed to get time to ask him some questions. My first question was how he would approach international agreements. His answer was that he would consider how global agreements would affect New Zealand’s democracy and sovereignty. I then asked about protections for citizen journalists and his thoughts on sealed warrants and indictments. He asked me first whether this was referring to Graham Capill. When I replied this was in response to the police monitoring of Cameron and The BFD his answer surprised me. “Anything that is kept in the dark must come to the light where it can be open.”
Democracy New Zealand will continue to campaign. Matt King does not trust the mainstream media which is why he is continuing the old-fashioned strategy of public meetings to spread his message and campaign. He encouraged supporters to spread the word. It seems that, as the election year approaches, there is more to come.