Tony Brunt

Anthony John "Tony" 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.

Tony Brunt
1st Leader of the Values Party
In office 1972–1974
Deputy	Geoff O'Neill
Succeeded by	Reg Clough
Wellington City Councillor
In office 1974–1980
Personal details
Born	Anthony John Brunt 1947 (age 73–74) Auckland, New Zealand
Political party	Values
Alma mater	Victoria University of Wellington
Profession	Journalist

Biography

Early life

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 in order to study Political Science at Victoria University of Wellington.[2]

Political career

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 which existed in New Zealand at the time.[3] Aged 25 at the time, 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] While he was a member of the Council Brunt was also employed by the Commission for the Environment as an investigating officer.[8] He did not stand for re-election in 1980.

Later activities

Brunt 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.[9]

Notes

1. "New Councillor". The Evening Post. 16 October 1974.
2. Davison, Isaac (30 May 2012). "Political party marks 40 year milestone". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
3. O'Brien, Tova (1 June 2012). "Forty years since first green party". Newshub. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
4. "Tony Brunt, 'Reluctant Midwife' to Lusty, Growing Values Party". The Evening Post. 18 November 1972. p. 5.
5. Norton 1988, pp. 256.
6. "Values Eye No. 1 City Job". The Dominion. 20 April 1977.
7. Smyth, A.J. (25 October 1977). Declaration of Election Results (Report). Wellington City Council.
8. "Values Name Three More Candidates". The Evening Post. 20 April 1977.
9. Rudman, Brian (23 August 2000). "Gem of an idea for our project". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 February 2017.

References

• 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.