Victor Billot is a former co-leader and electoral candidate for New Zealand's Alliance party. He is also known as a writer, musician, unionist, past editor of Critic Te Ārohi magazine, and a performer in the bands Alpha Plan,[1] Age of Dog[2] and Das Phaedrus.[3]
NewLabour and the Alliance Party
Billot was a founding member of the NewLabour Party, which was set up in 1989 by Jim Anderton.[4] In 1991, NewLabour was one of four parties to form the Alliance political party.
He was a candidate for the Alliance in 2005 (at number eight on their list), 2008 (three), and 2011 (six), contesting the Dunedin North electorate.[5][6][7] In 2008, he was berated by the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, for all the faults of the National Party when she mistook him for a supporter of that party.[8]
At the party's 2006 conference, held in Wellington, no co-leaders were elected. Instead the party decided to concentrate on internal reorganisation; Billot was elected president. At the 2007 national conference, held in Dunedin, two co-leaders were elected, Billot and Kay Murray, with Paul Piesse returning to his former role as Party President. Billot was co-leader for one year.[9]
Billot persuaded his Wellington friend and businessman Jack Yan to stand for the Alliance in 2008;[10] Yan was number 12 on the list, but did not contest an electorate.[6]
Clare Curran, the New Zealand Labour Party MP for Dunedin South from 2008 to 2020, has repeatedly encouraged Billot to join her party.[11]
He stepped down from his role as Spokesman and occasional co-leader of the Alliance Party in March 2014.[12]
Billot still engages in left wing activism in Dunedin, campaigning against cuts to postal services in 2015.[13]
Professional life
Billot was the National Communications Officer for the Maritime Union of New Zealand between 2003 and 2016.[14] In January 2017 he began working as publicist for the Otago University Press.[15] He writes a weekly column for Newsroom.[16]
Publications
Billot has published three poetry collections:
His work has also appeared in Australian and New Zealand literary journals including Cordite,[20] Meniscus,[21] Minarets[22] and Takahē.[23]
Recordings
Billot has recorded several albums since the early 1990s with music groups in addition to a solo album, including:
- 1996: City of Bastards[24] by Alpha Plan
- 2002: Plutocracy by Victor Billot
- 2016: Machine Language by Alpha Plan
References
External links
- Billot's official site
- Indonesian crew members suffered 'months of abuse' interview given to TVNZ News at 8 in 2011 (5:39)