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Jordan Williams (New Zealand lawyer)

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Jordan Henry Williams (born 1986) is New Zealand lawyer best known for his political activities, which are often connected to the National or ACT parties, and his lobbying for liberal and conservative causes.[1] He is a founder and current Executive Director of the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union,[2] President of the World Taxpayers' Association,[3] a New Zealand Free Speech Union co-founder and Council Member,[4] and the Chief Executive Officer and sole director of the Campaign Company.[5][6]

In the second half of the 2010s a lengthy defamation dispute between Williams and former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig reached the Supreme Court. Williams was initially awarded a New Zealand record amount of $1.27M (overturned on appeal), but ended up issuing an apology and making an undisclosed payment to Craig in a negotiated settlement.

Early life and education

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Williams grew up in Hawke's Bay and attended Lindisfarne College. He was a member of the Hastings Youth Council and a Youth MP.[7] When he was 15 years-old, Williams joined the New Zealand Green Party, motivated by a fear of genetic engineering.[8]

While studying law and accounting at Victoria University of Wellington he interned for family friend Don Brash (National Party leader 2003–2006), and in 2008 he was involved in former ACT MP Stephen Franks' election campaign as a National Party candidate. This led to him working at Franks' law firm, Franks & Ogilvie, for four years.[9]

Dirty Politics and Vote For Change

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At 25 years old, Williams was a leading spokesman for Vote For Change, the main group that unsuccessfully campaigned against MMP in the 2011 New Zealand voting system referendum.[10] Williams attended a New Zealand First party rally where Winston Peters dismissed Vote For Change as "a National Party jack-up".[11]

Also in 2011 Williams assisted Don Brash's takeover of the ACT party leadership. At the time he described his work as a short-term legal assignment.[12] In 2014, Nicky Hager's book Dirty Politics alleged that Williams had been involved in blackmailing Rodney Hide to stand down in favour of Brash. As told in the book, Williams' role was to obtain "dodgy texts" that Hide had allegedly sent to a young woman. Both Williams and Hide denied the story.[13]

Dirty Politics was based mostly on emails hacked from "attack-blogger" Cameron Slater, who ran the blog WhaleOil. Its main theme was secret collaboration between National Party figures including Judith Collins and Slater. Williams was included in three separate exchanges covered in the book, and Hager later characterised him as an "enthusiastic helper, ready to help dig dirt on the latest target".[14][15]

After the book came out Williams said that he and Slater still spoke "every day", but that he had fallen out with another of the key players, political strategist Simon Lusk.[13]

Taxpayers' Union

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In 2013, Williams and David Farrar founded the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union as an incorporated society.[16]

To draw attention to public spending that the Taxpayers' Union considered wasteful, a series of publicity stunts featured Williams, dressed in a black suit and bowtie, and a second person wearing a full-body costume in the style of Porky Pig. Williams and "Porky" would visit government entities and film themselves attempting to present awards such as a "Waste Watch" certificate to MBIE and a "certificate of achievement and imagination" to a bemused middle manager at the Rotorua Lakes District Council.[16][17]

As a Taxpayer Union spokesman Williams has opposed raising the minimum wage,[18] workplace safety training,[19] broadcast funding for The Civilian Party,[20] tobacco tax increases (a position that the Taxpayers' Union took without declaring its tobacco industry relationships),[21][22] the Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund,[23] Māori wards in local government,[24] and the Three Waters reforms.[25]

Williams is Chairman and President of the World Taxpayers' Association, which describes itself as an organisation that connects organisations like New Zealand's Taxpayers' Union from over 60 countries. He was first elected to its Board in 2019.[3]

NZME publications including the New Zealand Herald have carried occasional opinion columns by Williams since 2017. Writing mostly about politics, tax and spending, his articles variously declared his interest as Chief Executive of the Taxpayers' Union, or only as "a Wellington-based lawyer, lobbyist and commentator".[26][27][28]

Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance

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Williams founded the Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance as a company in 2015, using the Taxpayers' Union in Wellington as its registered office address.[16][29]

Williams moderated a Ratepayers' Alliance candidate debate during the 2019 Auckland mayoral election.[30] For the 2022 civic elections Williams simultaneously ran the Ratepayers' Alliance, which commented (often negatively) about various candidates' policies, and worked on multiple mayoral election campaigns. He denied that this situation created any conflicts of interest.[31]

Williams owned the Ratepayers' Alliance company until it was wound up in 2021, with its activities being absorbed into the Taxpayers' Union.[32]

Free Speech Union

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In 2018 Williams was a co-founder of the Free Speech Coalition, which later renamed itself the Free Speech Union (FSU).The group's initial motivation was to overturn Mayor of Auckland Phil Goff's cancellation of an event featuring alt-right speakers Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux at an council-owned venue. Their challenges were unsuccessful in both the High Court and the Court of Appeal.[33][34][35] Williams remains a board Member of the Free Speech Union.[36]

In March 2021 the FSU registered as a union under the Employment Relations Act.[37] In the 2021–22 year covered by its first annual report as a union, the FSU made three submissions to Parliament – against "safe zone" legislation that prohibits protest near abortion service providers,[38] against aspects of the bill prohibiting conversion therapy,[39] and against a bill strengthening plain language practices within the Government.[40]

The Campaign Company

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Williams is the founder, owner, and chief executive of the Campaign Company, a digital agency.[6][5] The Campaign Company's clients include Groundswell NZ[5] and Don Brash's lobby group, Hobson's Pledge.[41][42] It has faced multiple accusations of astroturfing.

During the 2022 Auckland mayoral election the Campaign Company worked for two candidates – Leo Molloy and Viv Beck.[43] The company's working relationship with Molloy ended after the Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance (also run by Williams) criticised him in a full page newspaper ad.[44]

The Campaign Company runs a number of campaign websites on behalf of Hobson's Pledge, including We Belong Aotearoa, which disguised its association with the group. It used Māori proverbs like "whiria te tāngata" ("weave the people together"), stock images of people from a range of cultural backgrounds, and even a Dame Whina Cooper photo and quote, to oppose co-governance ("a legal concept of shared management" which includes Māori representation) without mentioning the term. Because Hobson's Pledge lobbies against the use of te reo Māori and the name "Aotearoa" in particular, the "We Belong Aotearoa" site was called offensive, insulting, and deceitful by cultural advisor Karaitiana Taiuru. Dylan Reeve, author of Fake Believe: Conspiracy Theories in Aotearoa, called the campaign an example of astroturfing – a fake grassroots group.[41]

Another Campaign Company website, Save Our Stores, was designed to look like a grassroots campaign organised by small retailers against the Smokefree 2025 Act.[45] It was found to be funded by British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands, and its message was disavowed by the 6000-member Dairy and Business Owners Group.[41] Another of William's vehicles, the Taxpayers' Union, has also taken pro-tobacco positions while accepting funding from the tobacco industry.[21][46]

In August 2024, shortly after that year's Local Government New Zealand conference, mayors and councillors throughout New Zealand received an email survey from a previously unknown group called "Civic Pulse". This organisation had been created the day before by the Taxpayers' Union, with the Campaign Company playing an administrative role. Neither of these affiliations were declared proactively. Williams said that this was deliberate, in order not to sway people's answers in the survey, but that the relationships were disclosed to "anyone who asked".[47]

Colin Craig defamation case

[edit]

Shortly after the 2014 New Zealand general election Rachel MacGregor, who had resigned as Conservative Party leader Colin Craig's press secretary late in the campaign, confided in Williams that Craig had sexually harassed her. MacGregor and Craig reached a confidential settlement in 2015.[48]

Williams promised MacGregor and her lawyer to keep this information, and documents that she shared with him, private. He then used the information to persuade the party's board to end Craig's leadership, and in articles he wrote under a pseudonym ("Concerned Conservative") on right-wing blog WhaleOil. A judge later described these actions as a "campaign" against Craig. Williams said that he acted in MacGregor's defence after Craig breached the confidentiality he'd promised her.[49]

Craig responded with a pamphlet that was delivered to 1.6 million homes and claimed that he had been defamed. He said that Williams was lying, and that he would sue Williams and others. Williams consequently sued Craig for defaming him in the pamphlet. Among a number of witnesses called by Craig, Martyn "Bomber" Bradbury gave evidence of Williams' character, describing him as "manipulative", a "political sadist" and like "a venomous spider".[50] In this initial case Williams was awarded a record $1.27 million, which was later found to be excessive. A series of appeals from both sides followed and the case reached the Supreme Court.[51]

In December 2019, after more than four years of legal action, Williams and Craig settled. Williams issued an apology and agreed to make an undisclosed payment to Craig. Part of Williams' apology said, "I am now aware that a number of statements I made to others about Mr Craig were not true. I deeply regret what has happened and my involvement in spreading those allegations. I apologise to Mr Craig and his family unreservedly."[52]

The public reaction to the case included sympathy for MacGregor, who gave evidence in multiple cases that she had neither brought nor was defending, and condemnation of both Williams and Craig.[53][54] Details of Craig's behaviour towards MacGregor had not been public until they were presented as evidence by Williams, and she told the High Court that she felt "on trial by proxy" and "didn't want to be part of...this, their defamation thing, two men angry about something."[48][55] Williams summed up reporting of the long-running case as "who do you despise more, the neoliberal prick [Williams] or the conservative monster [Craig]?"[48]

References

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  1. ^ "Registry Lookup: Jordan Henry Williams". New Zealand Law Society. 24 June 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Our team". New Zealand Taxpayers' Union. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Jordan Williams – Chairman & President". World Taxpayers' Association. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  4. ^ "About". Free Speech Union. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  5. ^ a b c "Sponsored Story: How to build a 'force for good'". New Zealand Herald. 5 July 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  6. ^ a b "The Campaign Company Limited (8257633) Registered". Companies Register (New Zealand Companies Office). Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  7. ^ Smith, Mandy (2 March 2007). "Young leaders get no buzz out of Beehive". Hawkes Bay Today. New Zealand Herald.
  8. ^ Gullery, Lawrence (5 March 2012). "Ex youth leader says get elected". Hawkes Bay Today. New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  9. ^ Macdonald, Nikki (3 February 2016). "National portrait: Taxpayers' Union founder Jordan Williams". Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  10. ^ Vote For Change (27 June 2011). "Press Release: Vote for Change Campaign Launched". Scoop. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  11. ^ Levy, Danya (23 November 2011). "Peters wants old-fashioned politics back". Stuff. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  12. ^ Cheng, Derek (6 May 2011). "Brash's Act coup angers some National members". New Zealand Herald.
  13. ^ a b Fox, Michael; Rutherford, Hamish (14 August 2014). "Hide scoffs at blackmail claim". Stuff. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  14. ^ Hager, Nicky (16 August 2017). "Sunlight did what sunlight does: Nicky Hager on Dirty Politics, three years on". The Spinoff. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  15. ^ Fisher, David (14 August 2014). "Dirty Politics: Who are the key players?". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  16. ^ a b c Fisher, David (13 November 2015). "The Big Read: So what's this Taxpayers' Union, which purports to represent us all?". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  17. ^ Martin, Matthew (31 July 2017). "Rotorua council given dubious award for muddy spending". Rotorua Daily Post/New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  18. ^ Mackenzie, Dene (25 January 2017). "Minimum wage rise draws widespread criticism". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  19. ^ Mackenzie, Dene (15 January 2014). "Accident prevention training may end". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  20. ^ Bennett, Adam (11 June 2014). "Civilian's gain major parties' loss". Otago Daily Times. APNZ. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  21. ^ a b Sachdeva, Sam (24 January 2019). "Taxpayers' Union backed by tobacco giant". Stuff. Newsroom. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  22. ^ Mackenzie, Dene (27 May 2016). "The more people smoke, the more they pay". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  23. ^ Mackenzie, Dene (18 January 2018). "Taxpayers' Union takes issue with electric-vehicle funding". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  24. ^ Harawira, Tumamao (5 February 2021). "Tau Henare criticises Taxpayers' Union petition opposing Māori wards". Te Ao Māori News. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  25. ^ "Three Waters on the road". Local Matters. 20 June 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  26. ^ Williams, Jordan (29 November 2017). "Golriz Ghahraman saga reveals Greens in-fighting". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  27. ^ Williams, Jordan (22 May 2017). "Jordan Williams: Never a better time for tax relief". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  28. ^ Williams, Jordan (24 November 2022). "Christopher Luxon wrong to U-turn on tax policy". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  29. ^ "New Company Incorporation – AUCKLAND RATEPAYERS' ALLIANCE LIMITED". Companies Register. New Zealand Companies Office. 15 June 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  30. ^ Donnell, Hayden (2 October 2019). "Auckland's penny-pinching rates protesters find a new hero". The Spinoff. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  31. ^ Niall, Todd (26 July 2022). "Auckland mayoralty: Taxpayers' Union head says his various roles don't conflict". Stuff. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  32. ^ Niall, Todd (7 March 2022). "Taxpayers' Union society wrongly listed as 'dissolved' after alleged hack". Stuff. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  33. ^ Van Dongen, Yvonne (October 2022). "Voice Control". North and South. pp. 24–33. Archived from the original on 27 October 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  34. ^ Weekes, John (4 August 2020). "Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux: 'Thugs' veto' canned visit, court told". Stuff. Archived from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  35. ^ Niall, Tony (25 July 2018). "Right-wing Canadian speakers' visit canned, legal action on back burner". Stuff. Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  36. ^ "About". Free Speech Union. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  37. ^ "Application for society to register as a union (completed copy)". fyi.org.nz. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  38. ^ Giraud, Dane (6 May 2023). "Free Speech Union's submission on the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Bill". Free Speech Union. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  39. ^ "Free Speech Union Submission on the Conversion Therapy Practices Prohibition Bill". Free Speech Union. 1 September 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  40. ^ "Annual Report 2022 (PDF)" (PDF). Free Speech Union. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  41. ^ a b c Hancock, Farah (31 August 2023). "'Astroturf' accusations over 'We Belong' website run by anti co-governance group". RNZ. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  42. ^ "webelong.co.nz (Active)". Domain Name Commission. Retrieved 16 August 2023. webelong.co.nz Registrant contact: Campaign Company, 17/125 Queen Street, Auckland 1010
  43. ^ Fisher, David (24 August 2022). "Auckland mayoral candidate Viv Beck locked out of online campaign after unpaid bill". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  44. ^ Morton, Nathan; Niall, Todd (5 August 2022). "Leo Molloy's media manager exits Auckland Mayoralty campaign team". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  45. ^ Hancock, Farah (7 August 2023). "'Save our stores': The 'corner dairy campaign' quietly backed by big tobacco". New Zealand Herald. RNZ. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  46. ^ Dairy and Business Owners Group (8 August 2023). "Press Release: 'Save Our Stores' Isn't Us". Scoop. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  47. ^ Coughlan, Thomas (26 August 2024). "Taxpayers Union behind 'civic pulse' survey of councillors". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  48. ^ a b c Emanuel, Asher (6 September 2018). "'Who do you despise more?' Jordan Williams and Colin Craig at the Supreme Court". The Spinoff. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  49. ^ Brown, Jacob (30 September 2016). "Jury finds Colin Craig did defame Jordan Williams". Newshub. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  50. ^ Denney, Kelly (23 September 2016). "Taxpayers Union founder Jordan Williams' courtroom rant". Stuff. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  51. ^ Robson, Sarah (11 April 2019). "Jordan Williams defamation case against Colin Craig: Retrial ordered by Supreme Court". RNZ. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  52. ^ Williams, Jordan (3 December 2019). "Press Release: Calling it quits with Colin Craig". Scoop. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  53. ^ Toy-Cronin, Bridgette (4 October 2019). "Not easy to end Craig's legal omnishambles". Newsroom. Retrieved 22 August 2023. McGregor…was hoping the High Court case was the final outcome. The prospect of the saga continuing is particularly painful when one considers that the High Court case took a long time. Two years elapsed between McGregor being served with the proceedings and the judgment being delivered, and there was a whole year between McGregor going to court to give evidence and then reviewing the judgment. That is a problem in itself.
  54. ^ Manhire, Toby (30 September 2016). "Having trounced Colin Craig in comedy-horror libel case, here's how Jordan Williams could spend his $1.27m". The Spinoff. Retrieved 23 August 2023. But while there was plenty of reason to sympathise with MacGregor, it's difficult to see how anyone reading the reports of the trial would be feeling enamoured by either of these unpleasant men who seemed set upon slapping each other with legal fish
  55. ^ Dennett, Kelly (6 September 2016). "Sexual harassment allegations against Colin Craig detailed for first time". Stuff. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
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