View source for Jim Anderton's Progressive Party

{{Short description|New Zealand political party}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=September 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = Jim Anderton's Progressive Party
| logo             = NewZealandProgressivePartyLogo.png
| colorcode        = #A91D26
| founder           = [[Jim Anderton]]
| ideology         = [[Progressivism]]<br />[[Democratic socialism]]
| headquarters     = 296 Selwyn Street, Spreydon, [[Christchurch]]
| website          = [https://web.archive.org/web/20130406220418/http://www.progressive.org.nz/ www.progressive.org.nz]
| country          = New Zealand
| split            = [[Alliance (New Zealand political party)|Alliance]]
| founded          = 27 July 2002
| dissolved        = 9 March 2012
| colors           = Grey and Burgundy
| seats1_title     = MPs in the [[New Zealand House of Representatives|House of Representatives]]
| position         = [[Centre-left politics|Centre-left]] to [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]]
}}
{{Socialism sidebar}}
'''Jim Anderton's Progressive Party''' (formed on 27 July 2002 as the '''Progressive Party''' and renamed after its founder in 2005) was a [[List of political parties in New Zealand|New Zealand political party]] to the [[left-wing|political left]] of its ally, the [[New Zealand Labour Party|Labour Party]].

The party was established when [[Jim Anderton]] and his supporters left the [[Alliance (New Zealand political party)|Alliance]] party. The Progressive Party held at least one seat in [[Parliament of New Zealand|Parliament]] from 2002 to 2011 because of Anderton's victories in the electorate of [[Wigram (New Zealand electorate)|Wigram]]. The party did not contest the [[New Zealand general election, 2011|2011 general election]], and was de-registered at its own request on 9 March 2012 .<ref name=nzg1>{{cite web |url=http://www.dia.govt.nz/Pubforms.nsf/NZGZT/NZGazette33Mar12.pdf/$file/NZGazette33Mar12.pdf |title=Cancellation of Registration of Party and Logo |pages=1009–1010 |publisher=New Zealand Gazette |date=15 March 2012 |access-date=19 March 2012}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Cancellation of Jim Anderton's Progressive party and logo|url=https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2012/cancellation-of-jim-andertons-progressive-party-and-logo/|access-date=2021-12-23|website=[[Electoral Commission (New Zealand)|New Zealand Electoral Commission]]|language=en-NZ}}</ref>

==Policies==
Economically, the party was left of centre, and placed particular attention on economic development.
It had a 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 (New Zealand)|Goods and Services Tax]] in favour of a broad-based [[financial transactions tax]], and monetary policy reform. Its campaign slogan was "Get things done".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.progressive.org.nz/Policy/poilcy.html |title=Progressive Party policy |access-date=2010-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100401094301/http://www.progressive.org.nz/Policy/poilcy.html |archive-date=2010-04-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==History==
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 [[New Zealand general election, 1999|1999 election]], the Alliance went into coalition with Labour, forming a government with Anderton as [[Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand|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.<ref>[http://tvnz.co.nz/view/tvnz_smartphone_story_skin/82355 ''"Anderton appeals to party members"'', TVNZ, Feb 2002]</ref> Anderton rejected the latter charge, and he claimed 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.

The party organisation expelled Anderton and his supporters,<ref name="NZ_Herald_1592649">{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/election-2002/news/article.cfm?c_id=774&objectid=1592649 |title=Four weeks' leave to test Coalition |date=22 April 2002 |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=6 October 2011}}</ref> with Anderton announcing his intentions of establishing a new party. However, because of an [[waka-jumping|electoral law]], Anderton did not officially leave the Alliance's parliamentary wing, even if he had left the party itself – doing so would have required his resignation from parliament, a step he was unwilling to take. Anderton had supported this law as a result of the great instability caused by rampant party-switching in the previous Parliament. As such, Anderton and his supporters remained technically a part of the Alliance's parliamentary wing until the election, when they officially established their new party.

The [[New Zealand Democratic Party|Democrats]], a component of the Alliance, broke away to join the new group which was to be the "Progressive Coalition", but shortly before the [[New Zealand general election, 2002|2002 election]], the official name was changed to "Jim Anderton's Progressive Coalition",<ref name="NZ_Herald_2046247">{{cite news |url= http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=2046247 |title=Anderton on the spot over party name |date=12 June 2002 |agency=[[NZPA]] |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=6 October 2011}}</ref> a measure Anderton says was intended to ensure that the new party was recognised. Later, after the Democrats had departed to re-establish themselves as an independent entity, the name "Progressive Party" was adopted.

The new party placed Anderton's supporters from the Alliance first on its party list. In the elections, it competed against both the Alliance (then led by [[Laila Harré]], a supporter of McCarten) and Labour. It managed to gain 1.7% of the vote,<ref name="2002 election">{{cite web |title=Official Count Results – Overall Status |url= http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2002/partystatus.html |publisher=Electoral Commission |access-date=7 August 2013}}</ref> and [[Jim Anderton]] was successful in retaining his electorate seat in {{NZ electorate link|Wigram}}.<ref name="Wigram, 2002">{{cite web |title=Official Count Results – Wigram |url= http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2002/electorate-62.html |publisher=Electoral Commission |access-date=7 August 2013}}</ref> As such, the party gained entry to parliament with two seats, including deputy leader [[Matt Robson]], who had been a member of Anderton's faction of the Alliance. The Alliance itself failed to win any seats. It received only 1.27% of the vote,<ref name="2002 election" /> and Laila Harré lost to [[Lynne Pillay]] in the {{NZ electorate link|Waitakere}} electorate, meaning the Alliance won no electorate seats.

The Progressives took up the Alliance's old position as Labour's junior coalition partner. However, as the Progressives brought fewer seats to the coalition than the Alliance had, the new party's influence was not as great. Anderton retained his position as Minister of Economic Development but lost the role of deputy prime minister to Labour's [[Michael Cullen (politician)|Michael Cullen]], the [[Minister of Finance (New Zealand)|Minister of Finance]] and deputy leader of Labour. Robson, who had been Minister of Corrections, Minister for Courts, Minister for Land Information, and Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs in the previous government, lost his cabinet posts.

Shortly before the [[New Zealand general election, 2005|2005 election]], the official name of the party was changed again, this time to "Jim Anderton's Progressive", to facilitate voter recognition on ballot papers.<ref name="NZ_Herald_10340456">{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10340456 |title=Interview: Jim Anderton, Progressive party leader |date=13 August 2005 |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=6 October 2011}}</ref>  In those elections, the Progressives' vote tailed off slightly to 1.2 percent, but this decline was enough to keep Robson from returning to Parliament even though Anderton easily won his seat. The indication of the [[New Zealand First]] and [[United Future]] parties that they would support either National or Labour based on whichever received the most votes may have eroded the Progressives' potential share of the vote alongside other minor parties. As Labour was returned to power, however, Anderton was able to retain his place in government.

In the [[New Zealand general election, 2008|2008 election]] the Progressive Party gained 0.91% of the vote. Anderton retained his electorate seat and remained in Parliament representing the party.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2008/electorate-63.html|title=2008 Election Results|date=November 2008|publisher=Chief Electoral Office|access-date=23 September 2012}}</ref> In an unusual move, Anderton announced that he would remain in coalition with Labour in opposition.<ref name="NZ_Herald_10543865">{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz-election-2008/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501799&objectid=10543865 |title=Anderton to stay with Labour, even in opposition |date=19 November 2008 |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=6 October 2011}}</ref>

[[Jim Anderton]] announced his retirement from Parliament from the 2011 general election. The party did not contest the election and is now no longer in Parliament.  On 9 March 2012  the party was de-registered at its own request.<ref name=nzg1/><ref name=":0" />

===Electoral results===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Election !! No. of votes !! % of vote !! No. of seats<br />won !! Government
|-
! [[New Zealand general election, 2002|2002]]
| 34,542 || 1.70 || {{Composition bar|2|120|hex={{party color|Jim Anderton's Progressive Party}}}}|| {{yes2|[[Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand|Coalition]]}}
|-
! [[New Zealand general election, 2005|2005]]
| 26,441 || 1.16 || {{Composition bar|1|121|hex={{party color|Jim Anderton's Progressive Party}}}}|| {{yes2|[[Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand|Coalition]]}}
|-
! [[New Zealand general election, 2008|2008]]
| 21,241 || 0.91 || {{Composition bar|1|122|hex={{party color|Jim Anderton's Progressive Party}}}}|| {{no2|Opposition}}
|}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2012/cancellation-of-jim-andertons-progressive-party-and-logo/ Cancellation of Jim Anderton’s Progressive party and logo] – Electoral Commission
{{NZ Alliance Party}}
{{Historic New Zealand political parties}}
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[[Category:2002 establishments in New Zealand]]
[[Category:2012 disestablishments in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Defunct political parties in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Defunct socialist parties in Oceania]]
[[Category:Democratic socialist parties in Oceania]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 2012]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 2002]]
[[Category:Progressive parties]]
[[Category:Socialist parties in New Zealand]]