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COMING SOON: The unprecedented rise of Advance New Zealand.

Wednesday, 28 October 2020

This weekly series breaks down the rise of the party from a few Facebook lives during lockdown, to a movement with thousands of members. Over the course of the series, I'll talk to party candidates, party donors, supporters both current and former, and Billy Te Kahika himself.

On March 22nd, Billy Te Kahika, a somewhat well-known musician and son of New Zealand music royalty took to Facebook, calling on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to put New Zealand into Alert Level 4 lockdown, stating the risk of Covid-19 was increasing, with the possibility of an unprecedented and unmanageable crisis. The next day, Ardern announced New Zealand would be entering lockdown within 48 hours. Four short weeks later, Te Kahika claimed Covid-19 was a government supported hoax, was hosting joint Facebook lives with globally recognised conspiracy theorists, and criticising the government left, right, and centre.

On October 17, the very same blues musician alongside a sitting MP currently before the courts for alleged electoral fraud jointly led a party that received the same number of votes as the population of Taūpo.

What reeked of a mix of desperation, genuine political lunacy and the destruction of all basic human values for an unlikely shot at power pretty much proved to be exactly that. Advance NZ's story is one of a bizarre shift in the fringe of New Zealand's politics, where what was universally accepted as political absurdity never previously gained traction nor coverage. Within a matter of months, the party fronted by a man most in New Zealand had never heard of in a political context, paired with another who most of the country despised, were filling up venues almost daily across the country, and receiving thousands in donations.

Three days before the election, party co-leader Jami-Lee Ross claimed on Newstalk ZB that Advance NZ was the fastest growing political movement in New Zealand history. The claim was immediately ridiculed by people on both sides of New Zealand politics. But is the claim really that radical?

Billy Te Kahika was a man that had zero evident political aspiration whatsoever. He had no impressive track record in business, community work, academia or the military. His growth was entirely organic, without millions of dollars in backing nor an already established base transitioning from another movement or organisation alongside the leader. Te Kahika's rise was truly unprecedented; cementing in the history books both a scary and a sobering reality for New Zealand politics, which we must remain aware of in the future.

PART ONE: LESSONS FROM LOCKDOWN - 2nd NOVEMBER

PART TWO: THE DISCOVERY - 9th NOVEMBER

PART THREE: SUPREME CO-LEADER - 16th NOVEMBER

PART FOUR: THE CAMPAIGN - 23rd NOVEMBER

PART FIVE: THE MAN HIMSELF - 30th NOVEMBER