816:. He became a National Party MP in 1987 and won re-election as such in 1990 and in 1993. Meurant often clashed with the leadership of the National Party over MÄori policy, and was regarded as one of the leading dissidents within the National caucus at the time. Eventually, in September 1994, Meurant decided to break away from National and to establish his own party, adopting the name "Right of Centre" (or "ROC"). The acronym represented Meurant's right-wing economic philosophy of privatisation of government assets.
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872:, would succeed in the election. This provided ACT with an electorate MP to offset its failure (as happened with all minor parties in the first general election under MMP (including the Christian Coalition) to reach the 5% threshold of votes to qualify as a political party with "List MPs" in parliament. This manoeuvre enabled Bolger to cobble together a coalition with ACT personalities whom he preferred to Meurant.
42:
899:, which he saw as facilitating the distribution of pornography and, in 1994, he had proposed a bill to completely outlaw the viewing of pornography on the internet. After a long period of argument with his fellow National MPs, Rogers decided that his future did not lie with the National Party and he transferred his allegiance to Right of Centre. This gave the party two MPs.
907:. Prime Minister Bolger believed that this directorship was inappropriate for someone holding an executive post in government, and requested that Meurant resign the directorship. Meurant refused, and was sacked as Parliamentary Undersecretary. Despite the tension this generated, Right of Centre continued to support the National government.
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October 1995 to rebrand the party as the New
Zealand Conservative Party. The group retained its socially conservative policies but also attempted to win support from the rural sector. This new campaign was based on the claim that National, once strongly associated with the agricultural sector, had abandoned farmers for "
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But
Meurant had mis-read the animosity Bolger had for him that, in the final analysis, condemned Meurant's party to oblivion. Though history did vindicate Meurant's belief that the MMP formula would not deliver an outright winning party at the polls. In fact, in 1996, the Bolger government finally
915:
Meanwhile, Right of Centre was not achieving the success in the polls that
Meurant and Rogers had hoped. Meurant had strategised his party to capture a portion of the provincial conservative vote in New Zealand, but after more than a year, the party was still barely registering. It was decided in
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As the election loomed, internal disputes in Right of Centre occurred. In
February 1996, Meurant rejected pressure from the executive of the party to abandon right-wing economic policies in favour of the more traditional and socialist provincial New Zealand policies. Meurant refused, claiming he
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Prior to the 1996 general election, however, and prior to
Meurant resigning from National, Meurant came to an arrangement with Bolger whereby Right-of-Centre would not oppose the National Party government in votes of confidence and supply; in exchange, Meurant would keep his governmental post as
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When the executive of the Party overruled
Meurant and refused to return political donations garnered by Meurant on the promise of right wing economic policies, Meurant left the party and became an independent, following the path of most former independent MPs: to political oblivion. During the
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Meurant held the view that the new MMP formula for delivering parliamentary seats precluded any single party from achieving an outright majority (except in the most exceptional circumstances). Misguidedly, he anticipated that Prime
Minister Bolger and his trusted aide, Finance Minister
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In
September 1995, Right of Centre clashed with the National Party when Ross Meurant was sacked as Parliamentary Undersecretary for Agriculture. This came as a result of Meurant's accepting a directorship of Prok Bank, a Russian-owned bank registered in
879:
Until the emergence of other dissident
National and Labour MPs (who formed the political party United with a base of seven MPs), Meurant actually held the balance of power and this allowed the National government to maintain its majority in the House.
835:. To some extent the new party represented an opportunity for the former MPs to re-enter parliament. However, as the 1996 general election loomed, Munro retreated to obscurity and Reeves returned to the National Party fold to contest the unwinnable
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Meurant built a political party largely on the provincial farming network of
Federated Farmers (former president Lumsden was a candidate) and Meat Board representatives (Tim Britton and John McCarthy were both candidates).
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election campaign, despite having an incumbent MP in Rogers, the party was left out of the television debates and as a result got little daily newspaper coverage which contributed to their poor polling result.
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alone had garnered substantial monetary donations from wealthy individuals, and on the promise of right wing economic policy forming the basis of the new party.
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After the general election of 1996, the party had an even lower profile before the remnants of the party amalgamated with the
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This article is about the minor party founded by Ross Meurant in 1994. For the later party led by Colin Craig, see
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The 'Conservative' label was also applied unofficially to the MPs who opposed the original
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Bell, Cathie (16 October 1995). "Conservative Party new name for ROC".
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accepted the inevitability of Meurant's claim and reached a pact with
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The new party was originally conceived by former National MPs
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Clifton, Jane (10 November 1996). "The party's over".
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126:Learn how and when to remove this message
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895:. He was a particular opponent of the
887:On 8 June 1995, Meurant was joined by
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1058:era registered parties (1996āpresent)
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1664:Workers' Party of New Zealand (1991)
328:Historic conservatism in New Zealand
64:adding citations to reliable sources
29:historic conservatism in New Zealand
1705:Conservative parties in New Zealand
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1531:No Commercial Airport at Whenuapai
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792:. It was founded by a dissident
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1009:. 16 April 1998. p. 2.
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25:Liberal Party
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1654:Values Party
1451:Liberal (iv)
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1386:Equal Values
1361:Co-operative
1290:South Island
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58:Please help
53:verification
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1649:United (ii)
1629:Sovereignty
1496:New Citizen
1476:Mana Wahine
1456:Liberal (v)
1436:Liberal (i)
1310:Te Tawharau
1300:Sustainable
1265:Progressive
1230:Natural Law
893:pornography
790:New Zealand
647:Investigate
341:Politicians
330:(preā1930s)
300:Rule of law
260:Agrarianism
209:Former Name
1694:Categories
1644:United (i)
1220:Mana MÄori
1145:Expatriate
956:References
850:Bill Birch
833:Jim Bolger
827:), lawyer
804:Foundation
412:Richardson
285:Monarchism
254:Principles
203:right-wing
86:newspapers
1659:WIN Party
1491:NewLabour
1401:GOdsownNZ
1315:United NZ
1305:TEA Party
821:Rob Munro
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474:Activists
305:Tradition
1371:Democrat
1190:Internet
1160:Focus NZ
1100:Ban 1080
1085:Alliance
939:See also
897:internet
837:Tukituki
598:Focus NZ
500:Williams
427:Copeland
397:Marshall
392:Holyoake
382:Hamilton
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347:Whitaker
280:Loyalism
225:a series
182:Ideology
116:May 2022
1669:Women's
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685:Related
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512:Parties
457:Collins
447:Bridges
432:English
417:Shipley
402:Muldoon
387:Holland
357:Russell
317:History
163:Founded
153:Founder
100:scholar
1634:Thrive
1579:Reform
1564:Public
1554:Pirate
1240:One NZ
862:Labour
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462:Luxon
437:Brash
422:Birch
107:JSTOR
93:books
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1215:Mana
1200:Kiwi
796:MP,
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367:Bell
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