Matt King (politician)

King first sought to be a candidate for the National Party in 2011,[7] as well as for the 2015 Northland by-election, but the party did not select him.[8]

National first selected him as a candidate in the 2017 general election, to contest the Northland electorate.[9] National has generally performed well in Northland; prior to the 2015 by-election, the last time it lost the seat was in 1972. King's campaign included core infrastructure for Northland such as broadband, bridges, and roads.[4] He also made the case that his two main competitors would enter parliament regardless on list seats. He was booed at a debate for saying that local ratepayers would have to "move on" and cover the $30 million cost from a controversial waste water scheme by the former Kaipara Council.[10] Ultimately, King won the seat, defeating the incumbent Winston Peters.[7] The 2017 election as a whole resulted in a Labour-led Government, and so King entered opposition.

During his time as an MP, King was a member of the Justice, Māori Affairs, and Transport and Infrastructure Select Committees. He was also at times National's spokesperson for Regional Development (North Island), Rural Communities, and Transport.[11]

In mid-June 2020, King submitted his Crimes (Coward Punch Causing Death) Amendment Bill, which would have created a new offense for the crime of throwing a "king hit" or "coward punch", with a 20-year prison term. The campaign gained the support of professional boxer Joseph Parker and his trainer Kevin Barry.[12] The bill was defeated on its first reading, on 17 June, by opposition from the Labour-led coalition government.[12][13]

King lost his seat in parliament at the 2020 general election. Preliminary results had King retaining Northland by a margin of 729 votes over Labour's Willow-Jean Prime.[14][15] However the final results, released on 6 November, showed that Prime had won by 163 votes.[16] King announced that he would request a recount,[17] but changed his mind the next day, having concluded that there was little chance of overturning the result.[18] King was 40th on National's party list, and National did not receive enough party votes to go that far down its list.

In February 2022, King announced that he would join Convoy 2022, a protest against COVID-19 vaccination mandates on Parliament's grounds. King said that his main concern was the vaccine mandates, and that the anti-vaccination component of the protest was "very small". The National Party distanced themselves from King's remarks, saying that "Matt King is no longer an MP for the National Party" and that the party "does not support the actions or the anti-vaccination messages of those involved in Convoy 2022." King said in an interview that he knew that his position could end hopes of re-selection as a National Party candidate but that he needed to stand on his principles.[19] He later resigned from the National Party due to this position.[20]

On 18 March 2022, King launched a new party called DemocracyNZ.[21][22] He described it as standing on a platform of "democracy, unity, freedom of choice, freedom of expression, access and inclusion" and said it sought to "uphold the Bill of Rights".[6] According to King, about 2000 people signed up to become members within 48 hours of the party's launch.[6] As of 23 March 2022, no other team members of DemocracyNZ had been announced.[6]

King speaks at the anti-mandate occupation on the New Zealand Parliament grounds on 12 February 2022

In May 2020, King posted a picture of himself close to family members and staff at a restaurant. When challenged if he had followed social distancing requirements, he said "I think the social distancing stuff at the stage we are at now is over the top. We haven't had any new cases in Northland for a month. I'm just using my brain as an adult and he was too. We're not Nazi Germany." In another post, said to a commenter, "You are blind at the altar of St Jacinda."[23]

In August 2021, almost a year after he had left Parliament, King posted an article on Facebook that described COVID-19 vaccines as dangerous and downplayed the risks of the virus. National Party leader Judith Collins distanced herself and the party from these claims. King said that he was not anti-vaccine and was simply trying to start a conversation.[24]

In November 2021, King livestreamed on Facebook a discussion with University of Auckland epidemiologist Simon Thornley, where they discussed alternative (and widely debunked) treatments for COVID-19, as well as downplaying the severity of the disease.[25] Collins distanced the National Party from these comments, saying that the party believed in the effectiveness of vaccines,[25] while defending King as "a lovely guy".[26]

In a February 2022 interview, King stated, "I do not believe for a second 90 per cent of people have been vaccinated. That's the big lie. We all know it's bullshit, this vaccination just is not supported by the science."[27]

King has opposed vaccine mandates as "undemocratic" and against the Bill of Rights.[6] As of February 2022, King heads a group that represents military and police who oppose vaccine mandates in those workforces. In February 2022, King attended the 2022 Wellington occupation of parliament.[19]

King rejected the scientific consensus on climate change in a controversial August 2019 Facebook post, arguing that the phenomenon is simply "natural". He subsequently described himself as a "climate inquirer". At the time of the post, the Zero Carbon Bill – backed by both the Labour-led coalition in government and the National Party in opposition – was going through the Select Committee stage of the legislative process. The post borrowed heavily from the far-right US source "Americans for Limited Government", and sparked widespread criticism and ridicule across New Zealand politics.[28]

When asked in 2019, Matt King said that he had smoked cannabis "a long time ago", but did not want to legalise it because doing so would condone smoking for young people. He said, "I like the approach of not legalising it as such, more decriminalisation", and suggested giving people fines for minor use.[29]