Heartland New Zealand Party

Heartland New Zealand is a New Zealand political party founded in 2020.^[1] The party is rural-based, and opposed the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme, the Paris Agreement, and attempts to limit the environmental impacts of agriculture.^[2]

Heartland New Zealand
Leader	Mark Ball (as of 2020)
Founded	June 2020 (2020-06)
Headquarters	Pukekohe
Political position	Centre-right
House of Representatives	0 / 120
Website
heartlandnz.org.nz
Politics of New Zealand Political parties Elections

History

Founding and 2020 election

The party was founded in 2020, prior to the 2020 election. For that election, the party was led by former Franklin District mayor Mark Ball.^[1][2] At the time of its founding, it was backed by Hamilton entrepreneur Harry Mowbray,^[3] father of Nick Mowbray, a billionaire who, with his siblings, was on the 2019 NBR Rich List.^[4]

Heartland did not apply for a broadcasting allocation, which was allocated in May 2020.^[5] The party applied for registration with the Electoral Commission in July,^[6][7] and was registered on 6 August 2020.^[8] It had a party list of five people for the 2020 election — tied for the shortest party list with Vision NZ^[9] — and Mark Ball was its only electorate candidate, standing in the Port Waikato electorate.

The party won 914 party votes (0.003% of the total) in the 2020 election, the fewest party votes of the registered parties.^[10] Ball came third in Port Waikato, with 8,462 electorate votes (21%).^[11]

2023 election

In June 2023 the party's registration was cancelled at its own request.^[12] It initially said that it intended to run for electorate seats in the 2023 election, in the hopes of creating an overhang.^[13] However, it did not field any candidates.^[14] The party announced that it had decided not to contest the 2023 election at all, saying it intended to build towards the 2026 election.^[15]

Ideology

Heartland NZ seeks to form a coalition with other right-wing parties.^[16] The party has been critical of climate change policies and water restrictions and has opposed New Zealand's ban on oil and gas exploration.^[2] In 2023 it campaigned against the Labour government's Clean Car Standard,^[17] and against "wokeism" and political correctness.^[18]

Election results

House of Representatives

Election	Candidates nominated		Seats won	Votes	Vote share %	Position	MPs in parliament
	Electorate	List
2020	1	5	0	987[19]	0.1	17th	0 / 120

References

1. "Party profile: Heartland New Zealand". Policy.nz. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
2. James Baker (17 July 2020). "New rural Heartland party challenges climate change and water restrictions". Stuff. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
3. Andrea Vance (15 March 2020). "Why a new rural political party is likely to fail". Stuff. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
4. "Kiwi celebs and rich listers go wild at the biggest party of the year". NZ Herald. 8 December 2019. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
5. "2020 Broadcasting Allocation Decision Released". Electoral Commission. 29 May 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
6. "General election candidates: Who will be standing?". New Zealand Herald. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
7. "Three parties apply to register". New Zealand Electoral Commission. 18 July 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
8. "Registration of three parties and logos". New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
9. "Parties | Vote NZ". vote.nz. Archived from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
10. "2020 General Election and Referendums – Official Result". New Zealand Electoral Commission.
11. "Port Waikato – Official Result". New Zealand Electoral Commission.
12. "Amendment to party register". New Zealand Electoral Commission. 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
13. "Why we DON'T want you to vote for our party". HeartlandNZ Party.
14. "Electorate candidates". Vote NZ. Archived from the original on 20 September 2023. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
15. "HeartlandNZ". HeartlandNZ. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
16. "HeartlandNZ". HeartlandNZ. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
17. "Abolish The Ute Tax". Scoop. 29 March 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
18. "Finally A Political Party For The Farmers – HeartLandNZ". Scoop. 23 March 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
19. "2020 General Election and Referendums – Preliminary Count: Nationwide Party Votes – 100.0% of results counted". New Zealand Electoral Commission. 18 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.