Progressive Party (New Zealand)
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Jim Anderton's Progressive Party
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|---|---|
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| Leader | Jim Anderton |
| Deputy Leader | Matt Robson |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Dissolved | 2012 |
| Headquarters | 296 Selwyn Street, Spreydon, Christchurch |
| Ideology |
Progressivism Democratic Socialism |
| Political position | Centre-left to Left-wing |
| International affiliation | Not affiliated |
| Colors | Grey and Burgundy |
| Website | |
| www.progressive.org.nz | |
Jim Anderton's Progressive Party (formed in 2002 as the Progressive Party and renamed after its founder in 2005) was a New Zealand political party generally somewhat to the left of its ally, the Labour Party.
The party was established when Anderton and his supporters left the Alliance party. The party held at least one seat in Parliament from 2002 to 2011 following its leader, Jim Anderton's victories in the electorate of Wigram. The party did not contest the 2011 general election and was deregistered at its own request in March 2012.
Economically, the party was left of centre, and placed particular attention on economic development. It had particular focus on the creation of jobs, and said it was committed to achieving full employment. Among its other policy objectives were free education and free healthcare, four weeks of annual leave from work, an "anti-drugs" policy, and cutting the corporate tax rate to 30%. It also advocated an abolition of the Goods and Services Tax in favour of a broad based financial transactions tax, and monetary policy reform. Its campaign slogan was "Get things done".
The Progressive Party was established by a faction of the Alliance, a left-wing party that does not presently hold seats in Parliament but was once the third largest party there. Having won ten seats in the 1999 election, the Alliance went into coalition with Labour, forming a government with Anderton as deputy prime minister.
Towards the end of the parliamentary term, tensions between different factions of the party increased. In particular, the party's parliamentary leader, Anderton, and the party's organisational leader and president, Matt McCarten, became involved in a significant dispute. The causes of the problems are debated by the various actors, but a significant factor appears to be a claim by McCarten's faction that the Alliance was giving too much away to the Labour Party. In addition, McCarten's faction claimed that Anderton's leadership style was "autocratic", and that the parliamentary wing was failing to heed the concerns of the party's membership. Anderton rejected the criticism, claiming that criticism of the Alliance's ties to Labour were "extremist" and would nullify the party's ability to influence government policy. The conflict gradually became more and more severe until Anderton eventually demanded the resignation of the party's governing council.
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