NEWSLETTER #1

 from the Interim Board – 23rd August 2024  

 It was heartwarming to see the turnout and number of Members and Supporters at the Special General Meeting held on Saturday 17th August at the Balmoral Bowling Club, on what was a wet and windy day. A special thank you must go to those of you involved in the organisation of the meeting and the logistics that was required to pull the whole thing together. What an amazing effort! 

There was a resounding message heard from those in the room and online that NZ Loyal as a political party must continue. 

There is now a target in place for an AGM to be held before the end of 2024, that target is for the end of November and planning for this is already underway. More to come on this later in the newsletter. 

 The remit and focus for the Interim Board is narrow, and for good reason, that focus is to get the Party through the next three months and will end with the election of a new Board at the upcoming AGM. The hard work will then begin for the Party at large. 

The administration of the Party as an organisation will also be a focus of the Interim Board to ensure that we can hand the reigns of a well-functioning and professional organisation of good standing over to the new Board. 

Working groups are being established to help manage and oversee the workload. These workgroups will report back to the Interim Board with updates on progress. 

 The AGM is critical to the success of the Party going forward in its legitimacy, direction, and administration. There is much to do. 

There will be further communication to the membership and supporters seeking ideas and a call for help, so keep an eye out for that call to action. 

One of those key items for the AGM will be to elect a new Board, so as an early call, start thinking about who you would like to see as your Board, and yes, if you have passion, you will be able to nominate yourself. Don’t think that a potential Board member must come from within the current membership, think far and wide for nominations, there is some amazing talent out there that could be just what we are looking for to take NZ Loyal forward with the values that we hold dear. 

There will of course be the opportunity to ‘meet’ the Board candidates, learn about who they are, and ask the hard questions, before the election takes place. The full process from nominations to election will be communicated as soon as possible and will include a timeline for each milestone of the process. 

We understand the frustrations of the past and the hunger for information, but we as an Interim Board must remain focused on our role for the next three months, and we cannot get distracted from the end game. 

It is our aim to keep the membership as informed as possible with the work that we are undertaking, and with that we have nominated an Interim Board Spokesperson as the official point of contact. They will be responsible for communicating directly to the membership as the authorised person on behalf of NZ Loyal and the Interim Board. 

We have all agreed not to become embroiled or pulled into debate at an individual level on social media so as to avoid being distracted from our mission. We will leave any change of that position to the new Board after the AGM. 

Any Board position, communication, or statement will therefore only come from the nominated and authorised Spokesperson as being the official position of NZ Loyal and the Interim Board. 

A communication channel to NZ Loyal for members and supporters will be established and communicated very soon, and anyone with questions, queries, ideas, or information will be directed to that channel. Please be aware that we may not be in a position to answer all of those questions you may have as it may not be appropriate, or, outside of our remit as an Interim Board, and may well be more relevant for the new Board. 

 As stated above we will be keeping a low profile in regard to individual online presence in our capacity as Interim Board Members. 

That said, we do see the various social media channels and the commentary taking place, and we will be working towards a social media presence for NZ Loyal for the work that we are doing to keep membership and supporters up to date and engaged, and for the future Board to take over. We must at this point acknowledge the amazing work that our good friend and supporter of NZ Loyal, ‘Kiwi’ (Chris), has been putting in on Telegram with the NZ Loyal Members Official Chat channel. It is no easy task to run and administer a social media channel when trying to strike a balance for free speech and free expression without censorship, but this must be tempered with ensuring that it does not become a place of vitriol that no-one wants to be part of or present in. 

We as the Interim Board have therefore agreed to endorse the channel as ‘Official’ and for Kiwi to keep fighting the good fight on behalf of NZ Loyal members and supporters. We will commit to assisting Kiwi for the channel to be one of our lines of communication that we have. 

In terms of how the channel is run, that will be for Kiwi to establish the rules and consequences for any infraction. For the purposes of free speech and transparency, the Interim Board will not have any say or sway on how Kiwi runs the channel or how he deals with those posting to the channel. 

The Interim Board, however, will retain the right to remove any ‘Official’ status from the channel if we consider that NZ Loyal or its brand may be brought into disrepute. 

As aforementioned we will be establishing a ‘Members Only’ portal that will give exclusive content and contact from NZ Loyal to recognise those that have become members of the NZ Loyal Party. We don’t know yet what this may look like or what platform it may be linked to, and it will need to be developed further over time. 

 NZ Loyal can only continue to be a functioning Party with the support of its members. We are after all a Party of the people. 

As we will address later in this newsletter, we currently do not have access to any database of membership or supporters prior to the SGM held last Saturday. 

A call for membership to enable the running of the SGM was conducted to provide sufficient numbers to hold the SGM, which was successfully achieved and in accordance with the rules of the NZ Loyal Constitution. 

Whilst we work through the process of retrieving the full database of members and supporters from the previous NZ Loyal leadership and administrators, we may well have to seek a clarification of membership through other means or put the call out for a membership drive. 

Stay tuned. 

 The Candidates who stood in the last General Election did so with passion and integrity and we must congratulate those that put their hand up and their head above the trenches to become the public face of the Party in the electorates that they were contesting. 

Although we were not successful in any electorate contested, for a Party of our size that only came into fruition less than three months before the election taking place, the results were nonetheless incredible, especially when compared with all other longer established minor parties. 

These first run results should not be discounted as a failure but as a beacon of hope for the future. 

The Interim Board will be in touch with all of the Candidates in the coming weeks for feedback and to clear up some administrative matters. 

Regarding future Candidates, this will be for the new Board to look into. This is not something for the Interim Board to consider or manage currently. 

The elephant in the room. 

We are now all aware that a lot of money changed hands in support of NZ Loyal in the lead up to and after the 2023 General Election. The funds directly attributable to NZ Loyal, including fundraising, donations of cash or bank deposits, and membership fees (before and after the election) are not in the possession or control of the Interim Board (on behalf of NZ Loyal). This needs to be rectified with urgency and we are addressing it as such. 

For transparency’s sake, like many, we are aware of the financial statements that have been submitted to the Electoral Commission, which are a matter of public record. It is clear from those statements that a substantial amount of cash and assets were still available as of 31 December 2023. These financial statements were submitted to the Electoral Commission on 29 April 2024 by the then Party Secretary, and legally declared as being true and correct under the Electoral Act. 

Along with the financials for that period, we will be seeking from the former leadership and administrators of NZ Loyal the financial accounts for the balance period from 01 January 2024 up until such a time that NZ Loyal regains control of the finances. 

We can only make an assumption that with the amount of funds as declared that were received, distributed, or expended for Party purposes, and as is required under the Electoral Act, that best practice and accurate accounting and record keeping has taken place, and that a Party bank account was established with good financial controls, especially due to the large donations of cash known to have taken place. 

We look forward to an open and transparent transfer of those Party assets, cash and bank deposits, and financial accounting from the previous leadership and administrators of the NZ Loyal funds, to take place as soon as possible, and without the need to resort to other means by which to seek redress. The former leadership and administration have a legal and fiduciary responsibility to account for all funds attributed to NZ Loyal. 

The other elephant in the room. 

Fundraising activities by the membership and supporters are very much needed if the Party is to continue, and definitely required for the AGM to take place, especially if we are wanting to make an event of it. 

As aforementioned, NZ Loyal currently has no income stream or funding in place, and based on rhetoric over the last month we cannot at this time rely on the former leadership or administration being cooperative or forthcoming with whatever funds are held on behalf of NZ Loyal. We of course would love to be proven wrong on that front. 

Currently the only funds we have as an organisation are from the SGM membership drive and the generous donations made to cover expenses for the event (details of the current funds are included in the SGM Minutes and will be distributed to members as soon as they have been ratified). 

Therefore, we will need to put the call out for those members and supporters with black belts in fundraising to step up once again for the benefit of the peoples’ party so that we have a good financial standing to begin the journey toward the next election. 

We as an Interim Board would love to be in the position to have some funds and fundraising plans in place to hand over to the new Board. It will be one less thing they will need to think or worry about. 

There are several ways that this can be achieved, through donations, membership fees, and fundraising events. 

Shortly we will be putting in place the ability to receive donations and membership fees for NZ Loyal, to be managed by an independent Accountant, along with financial controls that will require multiple layers of approval for any expenditure. All cash and bank deposits and expenditure will be accounted for. 

Any work product that was initiated, developed, created and that was for the purposes of the NZ Loyal Party leading up to and after the 2023 General Election, including but not limited to documents, logos, membership and supporter databases, remains the property of the Party, and not a single individual, group, or other organisation. This includes ownership of Copyright. 

The Party was not disestablished as per the rules of the standing Constitution, and as was ratified at the Special General Meeting, the Party remains and continues as a legitimate political party under that Constitution, as being the will of the people. 

Therefore, we will take all action necessary to ensure the secure transfer of any IP held by former leadership and administrators, or indeed third parties outside of NZ Loyal.  

 Obviously, it would be our desire to have this happen without further action being required. 

To our loyal members and supporters, if any of you out there still have banners, placards, or advertising material, please hold on to it and when we get our lines of communication up and running, we would love to be able to keep a tally on what we have out in the field that it may be able to be utilised for future events, so as to avoid unnecessary expenditure 

 As with any organisation that has or collects and stores personal information, NZ Loyal has an obligation under the Privacy Act 2020 to manage the information held in its possession to ensure that it is held for the reason for which it was collected, that it is secured safely, and continues to be held for which it was intended. 

There are a number of legal obligations under the Privacy Act that we will be ensuring are followed, including the nomination of a Privacy Officer for adherence to the requirements of the Act. 

We will be putting in place safeguards for the storage of personal information held by NZ Loyal, and processes in place for only legitimate access to that information for communication or marketing purposes by the Party. 

This will also include the ability for individuals to check their own information held, if any, the accuracy of that information, and the ability to have that information updated or removed, as may be applicable, and within the requirements of the Act. 

The Interim Board currently does not have access to, or control of, the NZ Loyal membership or supporter databases (including previously completed membership forms, either in soft or hard copy) that was established in the lead up to, or after, the 2023 General Election. This database is also considered to be the IP of the NZ Loyal Party. 

That this is now in the possession and/or control of others no longer associated to NZ Loyal is of serious concern to us and is in breach of the Privacy Act, which constitutes a major information breach, for which the Office of the Privacy Commissioner will be advised, as is legally required. 

We would however consider the safe and immediate transfer of that database to the Interim Board with assurance of no other copies held, or use of the database outside of the authority of NZ Loyal Party for which the information was intended, a good start to remedy the current situation. We look forward to that taking place as soon as possible. 

 It is public knowledge that a Trademark application has been made by the former leader of NZ Loyal. The Interim Board will be formally challenging this Trademark application. 

It is our position that the NZ Loyal logo, tagline, and branding, is and continues to be the intellectual property of the NZ Loyal political party, for which it was created and as was submitted to the Electoral Commission when registered, and furthermore campaigned under in the lead up to and after the 2023 General Election, and is not owned by any individual, group, or other organisation outside of the Party. 

The NZ Loyal Party does not give permission for any of its branding to be used without written consent and reserves all rights. 

 As most will know the previous leadership of NZ Loyal made application to have NZ Loyal de-registered as a political party with the Electoral Commission. The Electoral Commission, having received this application from the then Party Secretary, acted on that application and de-registered NZ Loyal.

It is our position that the actions undertaken for the de-registration of NZ Loyal by the previous leadership and administration were not in accordance with the requirements of the standing Constitution, as was required (a constitution that was filed with the Electoral Commission). 

We therefore contest that the de-registration was unconstitutional and should be deemed null and void by the Electoral Commission and that NZ Loyal be re-instated as a registered political party. 

The Interim Board will be formally petitioning the Electoral Commission on this point. It should be noted that despite the de-registration, all actions by the previous leadership and administration regarding NZ Loyal are still actionable for any breaches under the Electoral Act, as may be applicable. 

 As you have just read, we have a big workload ahead of us, so we do ask for your patience and understanding as we work through the ‘To Do’ list. We will continue to keep you updated and be as timely as we can, even if it’s a quick update, breaking news, or a plea for help. 

The Interim Board is listening, and we will be as transparent and as informative as possible, and we thank you in advance for your support. We do not take on this task lightly and we all feel privileged that you have the faith in us and have given us this opportunity to carry NZ Loyal through to the upcoming AGM. On behalf of the Interim Board, I thank you for your continued support. 

Kindest regards 

Brenton Faithfull 

Interim Board Member and Authorised Spokesperson NZ Loyal Party