Richard Prosser

Richard Prosser (born 15 January 1967) is a New Zealand politician and a current member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. He is a member of New Zealand First party and was elected as a list MP at the 2011 election.

Early life

Prosser was born in West Auckland and spent his early life in the Waikato.^[2] He later moved to Otago and took up wine making.^[3] He is a former columnist for Investigate magazine.^[4]

Political career

Prosser stood for the Democrats for Social Credit in the 2005 election in the Otago electorate. He was ranked fourth on their party list but the party failed to get any MPs elected. Prosser later ran for the Central Otago mayoralty in 2007^[3] and came last in the election contested by three applicants.^[5] He also contested the 2007 local elections for a position as Central Otago District councillor in the Earnscleugh-Manuherikia Ward, but came third of three contenders.^[6]

Prosser founded the South Island Party in 2008.^[4][7] However the party chose not to register for the 2008 parliamentary elections;^[8] instead, they decided that a more effective course of action would be to merge itself into the non-partisan South Island First, a lobby group advocating greater self-determination for the South Island.^[9][10]

Prosser joined New Zealand First in 2010 after attending a party meeting and was later elected to the party's board of directors.^[11]

Prosser stood for New Zealand First at the 2011 election and was ranked fourth on their party list.^[12] He ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Waimakariri electorate, getting 538 votes, but was elected from the party list and is now sitting in the 50th Parliament. He is one of two New Zealand First MPs from the greater Christchurch area; the other is Denis O'Rourke.^[13]

Prosser attracted controversy after his election to Parliament when his previous advocating, in an edition of Investigate magazine, of the banning of the burqa in New Zealand became more widely publicised.^{[14][15][16][17]}

Writing career

Prosser has written the 'Eyes Right' column in the Investigate magazine for ten years.^[18] In his columns, he suggested various political ideas including compulsory conscription in New Zealand.^[19]

Prosser released a book in January 2012 named Uncommon Dissent outlining his political opinions, in which he refers to himself as a "Kiwi Nationalist".^[20] His claims in the book that "New Zealand society, Western society in general, has been hijacked by a conspiracy of Silly Little Girls" attracted heavy criticism from the Wellington Young Feminists Collective and the feminist blog Hand Mirror.^[21][22]

Writing for Investigate magazine in February 2013, Prosser stated; "If you are a young male, aged between say about 19 and about 35, and you're a Muslim, or you look like a Muslim, or you come from a Muslim country, then you are not welcome to travel on any of the West's airlines."^[23] Prosser further stated that the rights of New Zealanders' were being "denigrated by a sorry pack of misogynist troglodytes from Wogistan, threatening our way of life and security of travel in the name of their stone age religion, its barbaric attitudes towards women, democracy, and individual choice". Prosser wrote that "Abdul" should not be allowed to fly, and should instead "go ride a camel".^[24] It subsequently emerged that Prosser's column was written after a pocket-knife he was carrying had been confiscated by airport security.^[25] NZ First leader Winston Peters initially said that he would not apologise for Prosser's conduct, that he had been writing in his capacity as a columnist, as opposed to an MP, that Prosser stood by his statements, and that he had spoken to Prosser about the article as the article "lacked balance".^[26]

Subsequently, Prosser came under criticism from the Government and Opposition parties for the content of his article. Prosser stated that his intention had been to draw attention to the issue of passenger profiling at airports, and stated that his writing style was intentionally one of a "shock jock". He initially refused to apologise,^[27] but later admitted his article lacked balance, apologising for the offence that he had caused. He stated he would not continue to write for Investigate magazine.^[28][29]

In March 2013 the United Nations' Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said it "regrets" Prosser's remarks, and "welcomes the strong criticism of such statements by the Minister of Justice and Ethnic Affairs and the Race Relations Commissioner, among others".^[30]

References

External links

• Biography of Richard Prosser at the New Zealand Parliament