Freedom to be a shitty person

Inside Freedom NZ's Bizarre Gathering of Outlandish Ideas

A group of skeptical friends (Bronwyn Rideout, Mark Honeychurch and Tim Atkin) invited me to attend a political event, the “Take Back Your Power Roadshow”, last week. Freedom NZ, a new fringe political party that serves as an umbrella for five other parties, organised the event. The constituent parties are the New Nation Party, Vision New Zealand, the NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party, Yes Aotearoa, and Rock the Vote. They have been travelling around New Zealand spreading their message, asking for votes and donations.

Being unfamiliar with this new umbrella party, I wasn't sure what to expect. However, knowing that Sue Gray and Brian Tamaki would both be speaking at the event gave me a hint of the type of voters they would target. Although I had never heard Sue or Brian speak in person, I anticipated it would be an “entertaining” experience. I approached the event with as much of an open mind as a skeptic could manage, hoping that they might present some valid points on the night. After all, there are numerous legitimate political issues that these parties could address and improve upon.

We rocked up to Silverstream Retreat, Upper Hutt, just before 7 pm, and a stench reminiscent of rotten garlic hit me. Initially I wondered if someone's cooking had gone wrong, but I was told it was the smell from the nearby dump. As we entered the venue, we checked our names off an RSVP list - yes, they made us RSVP before the event, giving them our name, phone number and home address. We noticed about 10-15 people in total on the list who had RSVPd for the event, but the room had a lot more than that in attendance. Many appeared to be from Destiny Church, identifiable by their Man Up or Vision Youth clothing. When I entered, I was greeted by someone who told me I looked familiar, but she couldn't pick where she had seen my face. Shrug.

The first speaker of the evening was Brian Tamaki. He made humorous remarks and managed to get the crowd riled up with plenty of applause, although his speech lacked substance. Yeah, you oppose Labour, National and the other parties - but why? And yeah, you could improve the system and “drain the swamp”, but what exactly will you do that's different? I was waiting for him to make some hard points I could follow. Brian described Labour and National as cheeks of the same ass, with Act's leader David Seymour stuck in the middle - a joke that garnered quite a few laughs from the audience.

Brian expressed bitterness about how no parliamentary representative had stepped outside to visit the protestors on the parliament grounds last year. According to Brian, 30% of eligible voters supported the protest. He urged them to join together for a second time to help him “clean out” Parliament.

He told us all to stop voting for National and Labour, and instead support Freedom NZ, using the quote: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results”. Although he attributed this quote to Einstein, there is no evidence that it actually originated from him.

Brian opposed calling the country Aotearoa, and criticised the government for allocating funds to iwi, referring to the receivers as “greedy Māori elites”. He questioned the distribution of billions of dollars to Māori groups, suggesting the money wasn't reaching those who needed it the most. In his words, "So, they would commit racial genocide on their own people..."

Brian said he believed that globalists had invaded New Zealand, spoiled the country and eroded its sovereignty. As part of his party's agenda, he vowed to sever ties with international organisations such as the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and the World Health Organization.

Then he turned his attention to LGBTQIA+ issues, taking an even more extreme stance. He declared that the "agenda" of the LGBTQIA+ community must be stopped, and his party will legislate against the entire gay Pride Movement. He said he was concerned that they have infiltrated politics, the police force, businesses and banks - to the point that The Warehouse now sells puberty blockers on their shelves. WTF? This statement made no sense to me, as The Warehouse does not sell prescription drugs. I was so confused about how he concluded this, and searching online; I found nothing. The media widely covered these statements the following day. In response to the press, he clarified his comment was in protest of The Warehouse selling Pride products with a small percentage of the profits going to an organisation that supports LGBTQIA+ youth. How does that equal putting puberty blockers on their shelves? I find it challenging to comprehend. He even called for a Warehouse boycott on the night and concluded, "Save our country. Save our Children.”

Next on stage was Sue Grey, co-leader of both the Outdoors and Freedoms Party and Freedoms New Zealand, this umbrella party. She complained about the government allocating a smaller amount of broadcasting advertising money to their party than Labour would receive. And, to add insult to injury, now that the parties have merged they would only receive a single lump sum rather than several. She told us she is now challenging this in court.

Sue openly acknowledged being in trouble with the Law Society, but said it was because she challenged government policy. Then she questioned, “hang on, isn't that what lawyers are supposed to do”. Sue, you have said plenty of shitty things to warrant the complaints against you - including falsely attributing a schoolgirl's death to the Covid-19 vaccine.

Like Brian, Sue expressed bitterness over the fact that no parliament representative met the parliament protest mob. She revealed that she had utilised the Official Information Act (OIA) to request messages from communication apps like WhatsApp from the Police Commissioner and Ministers. She referred to Jacinda Ardern as an actress, because she apparently received “lines” (talking points) for press meetings during the protest. Sue said she is still sifting through the screenshots, and encouraged people to use FYI to request more information.

The third speaker was Hannah Tamaki, the leader of Vision New Zealand. There's not much to report here; more of the same fluff. She admits to being rebellious and silly, recounting instances where she wore her mask on her sleeve and saying, “I'm wearing a mask”, when a shopkeeper told her to wear one, then saying, “I've got an exemption”. She touted her success as a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, claiming she provides parental supervision and a "tune-up" for the group.

Hannah's introduction slide, mentioning that she is “co-founder of a large non-profit organisation”, aka Destiny Church

Hannah introduced Heker Robertson, the deputy leader of Vision New Zealand. He expressed pride in standing alongside Hannah, citing her five generations of successful families as evidence, saying that no politician in government today could come close to equaling that. Heker delivered a more polished speech than the previous speakers, but he sure had some shitty opinions, with a lot of misinformation as well. He quoted a false statistic that there is a health crisis of vaccine-injured individuals that is widespread throughout our country, suggesting that deaths from vaccine injuries are skyrocketing. His party aims to eliminate all mandates. But what mandates are still in effect? I started to spot a pattern with these speakers of bringing up old and outdated news. Maybe there's not much else to this alliance. Apparently the party plans to establish a national register for vaccinated individuals, so that everyone can be “assessed”. Heker concluded this part of his speech with a threatening statement, suggesting that those who have inflicted harm will be held accountable, and specifically mentioning Jacinda Ardern.

Heker then expressed satisfaction that a purple wave, representing the Freedoms NZ party's colours, has reached every town and city, bringing together diverse groups and parties that would not typically align. I found this somewhat ironic. He ranted about sexual education, particularly with LGBTQIA+ information being taught in primary schools. He mentioned that he hates the idea that his 10-year-old daughter might be informed about accessing contraceptives, even going so far as to label sexual education teachers as paedophiles. He then declared that the party would ban Gay Pride Month, and vowed to completely eradicate gender ideology, including a ban on puberty blockers. He also joined Brian in calling shame on The Warehouse and others. This guy was starting to irritate me, and that's saying something.

Getting even more silly, Heker then told us that principals are on stress leave because kids want to be cats and want litter boxes in their schools. However, the idea that there is an epidemic of children wishing to be cats has been debunked many times. It has popped up again recently because of a Tik Tok video where children told a story of their school that had kids asking for litter boxes and defecating in sinks. Any basic checking into this would see that it is fake. He also mentioned the party's plans to legislate against men competing in women's sports - by which he meant a ban on trans-women. He concluded by suggesting the need to define what constitutes a man and a woman legally, and announced the party's intention to introduce a parental rights bill.

The night's final speaker was Guy Slocum, from the New Nation Party - an ex-fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force. Among the group of speakers, he was perceived by us skeptics as being the least awful of them - which isn't really saying much! He confidently asserted that Freedom NZ will not only secure 5% of the vote come general election time, but their projection suggests they will actually receive 20-25%. One of his throwaway comments was saying that he believes the United Nations and the World Economic Forum are in control of both Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins.

Guy then went on to rapidly list a series of actions his party intends to take, some of which may, on the surface at least, sound like reasonable ideas:

• Implementing a tax exemption on the first $25,000 annual income for individuals earning less than $80,000.
• Enacting legislation allowing local producers to sell their products directly through local farmers' markets.
• Eliminating and repealing all legislative restrictions imposed on farmers.
• Removing taxation from superannuation payments.
• Providing free medical, dental, and denture care for senior citizens.
• Restoring the previous affordable loan system, offering loans at the Official Cash Rate (OCR) +1 (based on income).

During the last part of the event, a panel consisting of all the speakers was set up to address questions submitted online during the evening. Bronwyn asked about exemptions for puberty blockers, but her question was blocked and not asked, unlike the few questions submitted after hers. This I find funny because earlier during Hannah Tamaki's speech, she had said, “You know, if you're a keyboard troll at home, just wind it back and grow up and get some because it's easy to sit there being a gutless warrior but come to one of the meetings and ask us some questions”.

As I left the event, the foul odour emanating from the nearby dump assaulted my senses once again, matching the offensive nature of the views being propagated by the speakers.