The Advance New Zealand Party is a political party in New Zealand led by Independent MP Jami-Lee Ross. The idea was first unveiled in a newsletter from Ross released in April 2020. The party would be a broadly centrist and anti-corruption movement designed to appeal to voters "in the middle". Ross had been a member of the centre-right New Zealand National Party until a public spat with leader Simon Bridges during which he accused Bridges of corruption. Ross has since been accused of sexual harassment and bullying, and is currently under investigation for corruption himself.
Background
had been a long-time stalwart for New Zealand's centre-right National Party, having been elected to the Manukau City Council in 2004 aged just 18, and later as a Member of Parliament for Botany at 25 in 2011. Being one of the safest seats for the National Party, Ross would continue to win Botany by comfortable margins. Ross eventually became the party's Senior Whip in May 2017. After the National Party lost power at the 2017 election, Ross became a high-ranking figure in the Opposition led by new National leader Simon Bridges, serving as party spokesperson for Transport and Infrastructure. In a highly publicised falling out, Ross departed from the National Party in October 2018, accusing Bridges of corruption, and releasing the audio from conversations between him and Bridges. In a press conference on 16 October, Ross announced his intention to resign his seat and contest the resulting by-election as an Independent candidate. In the end however Ross chose to remain in Parliament and the election never took place. Ross was subsequently accused of sexual harassment and bullying behaviour towards staff members, National Party officials, and members of Parliament. On 29 January 2020 the Serious Fraud Office announced they had charged four people in relation to the claims made by Ross in 2018 around the NZ$100,000 donation. None of the sitting National Party MPs at the time, including Simon Bridges, were among the four charged. On 19 February 2020, it was reported that Ross was one among four people charged by the SFO over a $105,000 donation made to the National Party in June 2018. The SFO alleged that Ross and the other defendants had committed fraud by splitting the 2018 donation into sums of money less than $15,000, which were then transferred into the bank accounts of eight different people before being donated to the National Party. On 25 February, Ross appeared in court where he pleaded not guilty to the charges relating to the National Party donations.
Creation
With Ross's case still ongoing in the Auckland District Court, he announced his intention to create his own political party in an April 2020 newsletter. The party was described by Ross as a "new political movement" designed to appeal to "brave voices in the middle that speak truth to power". Little else is known about the party beyond its broadly centrist ethos and central issue of anti-corruption – in particular, opposition to the Chinese government's supposed influence on New Zealand. It is expected that Ross will contest his seat of Botany as the Advance NZ candidate, going up against National candidate and former Air New Zealand CEO Christopher Luxon. In July 2020, the Advance New Zealand Party applied for registration with the Electoral Commission. The party received a broadcasting allocation of $62,186 for the 2020 election, contingent on achieving registration.
