1972: the Green Party begins – in Island Bay

One of the lesser known claims to fame of St Hilda’s Anglican Church in Island Bay is that its hall was the public launching pad for the Values Party, which was later to become the Green Party.

Values’ first meeting was at Victoria University in May 1972. On 19 June the nascent party’s first campaign meeting was held – and St Hilda’s hall was the venue.

The Values leader, Tony Brunt’s diary notes that there were 22 people there.

Values went on to win 2% of the vote in 1972, and 5.7% in 1975, but failed under first-past-the-post to gain any seats. Its descendant party, the Greens, polls well in Rongotai. In 2010, it recived 8,920 party votes locally, compared with 12,168 for National and 12,606 for Labour.

In 1972, Values were disproportionately popular in the Island Bay electorate, polling 7.6% of the votes cast with a total of 1148, compared with 559 for Social Credit, 4857 for National and 8352 for Labour.

In 2022 Green Julie Anne Genter won Rongotai, the electorate formed out of Island Bay and Miramar under MMP. The Greens also won the party vote, but only just – their 13664 votes were three votes more than Labour.

A further Island Bay link to the Green Party is the decision made at Taputeranga Marae in 1997 for the party to split from the multi-party Alliance political grouping and make its way as an independent party.