# NewLabour Party

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/NewLabour_Party
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/NewLabour_Party.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NewLabour_Party
> Source revision: 1332083979
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

For articles with similar titles, see [New Labour (disambiguation)](/source/New_Labour_(disambiguation)).

Political party in New Zealand

NewLabour Party Leader Jim Anderton Founded 1 May 1989 Dissolved 13 October 2000; 25 years ago (2000-10-13) Split from Labour Party Merged into Alliance Ideology Social democracy Political position Centre-left to left-wing National affiliation Alliance Politics of New Zealand Political parties Elections

The **NewLabour Party** was a [centre-left](/source/Centre-left)[1][*[better source needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Questionable_sources)*] to [left-wing](/source/Left-wing_politics) [political party in New Zealand](/source/List_of_political_parties_in_New_Zealand) that existed from 1989 to 2000. It was founded by [Jim Anderton](/source/Jim_Anderton), a member of parliament (MP) and former president of the [New Zealand Labour Party](/source/New_Zealand_Labour_Party),[2] on 1 May 1989.[1]

NewLabour was established by a number of Labour Party members who left the party in reaction to [Rogernomics](/source/Rogernomics), the economic policies implemented by the Labour Party's [Minister of Finance](/source/Minister_of_Finance_(New_Zealand)), [Roger Douglas](/source/Roger_Douglas), which saw the traditionally [left](/source/Left-wing)-leaning Labour Party swing heavily to the [new right](/source/New_Right#New_Zealand) on issues of state intervention, regulation, and taxation. Anderton, who had been among the most vocal critics of Douglas, was joined by a number of other members of the Labour Party, such as [Matt Robson](/source/Matt_Robson), [Laila Harré](/source/Laila_Harr%C3%A9) and [Phil Amos](/source/Phil_Amos), and a number of left-wing activists, such as [Bruce Jesson](/source/Bruce_Jesson). Anderton was the party's only MP before it joined the [Alliance](/source/Alliance_(New_Zealand_political_party)).

## Electoral success

In the [1990 elections](/source/New_Zealand_general_election%2C_1990), NewLabour stood candidates in all electorates. The party gained a certain amount of support from disillusioned Labour voters, winning 5.16% of the vote. Anderton was NewLabour's only successful candidate, retaining the Sydenham seat in working-class south-central [Christchurch](/source/Christchurch). He remained the party's sole representative in Parliament, which was now dominated by the [National Party](/source/New_Zealand_National_Party) with 67 seats out of 97.[3]

## Alliance building

In 1991, NewLabour and several other parties formed the [Alliance](/source/Alliance_(New_Zealand_political_party)), a broad left-wing coalition.[4] Initially, NewLabour maintained a separate identity within the Alliance, keeping its own party organization intact. By 2000, however, many felt that maintaining parallel NewLabour and Alliance structures was counter-productive, and at NewLabour's October conference, it was decided to completely assimilate the party into the larger Alliance structure, marking the end of NewLabour as an autonomous group.[5]

## Former parliamentarians

Former parliamentarian Term Jim Anderton 1989–2000 Laila Harré 1996–2000 Matt Robson 1996–2000 Pam Corkery 1996–1999 Liz Gordon 1996–2000 Kevin Campbell 1999–2000

MPs elected between 1991 and 2000 were members of the NewLabour Party's faction of the [Alliance](/source/Alliance_(New_Zealand_political_party)).

## Electoral results

### Parliament

Election Party votes Total percent Place Seats won ± Government 1990 94,171 5.16% 4th 1 / 97 Opposition 1993 350,063[nb 1] 18.2% 3rd 1 / 99 1996 209,347[nb 1] 10.1% 4th 5 / 120 4 1999 159,859[nb 1] 7.74% 3rd 5 / 120 Coalition

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Alliance_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Alliance_6-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Alliance_6-2) As part of the [Alliance](/source/Alliance_(New_Zealand_political_party)) political party group.

## References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [NewLabour Party (New Zealand)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:NewLabour_Party_(New_Zealand)).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Locke2012_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Locke2012_1-1) Locke, Cybèle (2012). *Workers in the Margins: Union Radicals in Post-war New Zealand*. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams Books. p. 172. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1927131398](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1927131398). Jim Anderton led a centre-left breakaway from the Labour Party, announcing the formation of the New Labour Party on 1 May 1989. Progressives who had remained outside mainstream political parties joined the NLP, as did [Sue] Bradford

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Anderton, Jim (13 October 2000). ["Address to NewLabour Party Conference"](https://www.beehive.govt.nz/node/8782). *The Beehive*. Retrieved 21 July 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["1890–1993 general elections"](https://elections.nz/democracy-in-nz/historical-events/18901993-general-elections). Electoral Commission New Zealand. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20230408001916/https://elections.nz/democracy-in-nz/historical-events/18901993-general-elections) from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 9 July 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Orsman, Bernard (2 December 1991). "Alliance born with eye on Tamaki win". *[The New Zealand Herald](/source/The_New_Zealand_Herald)*. p. 1.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Venter, Nick (14 October 2000). "Anderton's NewLabour voted out of existence". *[The Dominion](/source/The_Dominion_(Wellington))*. p. 2.

v t e Defunct political parties of New Zealand MMP era registered parties (1996–present) 1Law4All Party 99 MP Advance NZ (1995) Advance (2020) Animals First Asia Pacific United Ban 1080 Bill and Ben Christian Coalition Christian Heritage The Civilian Party Conservative (1996) Destiny Direct Democracy Party Ethnic Minority Expatriate The Family Party Family Rights Protection Party Focus NZ Freedom Movement Future NZ (ii) Green Society Independent Coalition Integrity Party Internet Internet Mana Kiwi Libertarianz McGillicuddy Serious Mana Mana Māori Mauri Pacific Natural Law NMP One NZ Outdoor Recreation New Zealand Pacific Party People's Choice People's Party Progressive Progressive Greens Republican (ii) Residents Action Movement Social Credit South Island Superannuitants and Youth Sustainable TEA Party Te Tawharau United NZ United Future Workers Party of New Zealand Unregistered and pre-1996 era parties Christian Democrats Communist Party Co-operative Country Democrat Democratic Labour Democratic Progress Party Equal Values Freedom Party Future NZ (i) Hapu Imperial British Conservative Independent Political Labour League Join Australia Movement Kiwis Against Further Immigration Labour (1910) Liberal (i) Liberal (ii) Liberal (iii) Liberal (iv) Liberal (v) Liberal Federation Liberal Reform Mana Motuhake Mana Wahine National Socialist NewLabour New Citizen New Democrats New Economics New Liberal Party New World Order New Zealand Party Nga Iwi Morehu No Commercial Airport at Whenuapai OurNZ People's Movement Phoenix Pirate Piri Wiri Tua Public Radical Party Real Democracy Reform Reform New Zealand Representative Republican (i) Social Credit-NZ Social Democrats Socialists (i) Socialists (ii) Socialists (iii) Socialist Unity Sovereignty Thrive United Labour United (i) United (ii) Values Party WIN Party Workers' Party of New Zealand (1991) Women's World Socialists Young New Zealand

v t e New Zealand Alliance Party Party Leaders Jim Anderton (1991–94) Sandra Lee (1994–95) Jim Anderton (1995–2002) Laila Harré (2002–03) Matt McCarten (2003–04) Jill Ovens / Paul Piesse (2005–06) Len Richards / Paul Piesse (2006) Victor Billot (2006–07) Victor Billot / Kay Murray (2007–08) Andrew McKenzie / Kay Murray (2008–12) Kay Murray / Kevin Campbell (2012–15) Victor Billot (2026–present) Former Parliamentarians Jim Anderton Gilbert Myles Hamish MacIntyre Sandra Lee Phillida Bunkle Pam Corkery Rod Donald Jeanette Fitzsimons Grant Gillon Liz Gordon Frank Grover Laila Harré Alamein Kopu Matt Robson John Wright Kevin Campbell Willie Jackson Component Parties Democrats (1991–2002) Greens (1991–97) Liberals (1992–98) Mana Motuhake (1991–2002) NewLabour (1991–2000) Related articles Progressives City Vision Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [NewLabour Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NewLabour_Party) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NewLabour_Party?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.