Paul Davie's Statement On One New Zealand Controversy

Dieuwe de Boer
Letter

Editor's note: As this letter to the editor involves a dispute between two parties, I gave them both a chance to release a statement. The other affected party declined to do so, believing that their actions speak for themselves and that these matters should be resolved in private. Paul Davie requested I share his statement after articles from Andy Oakley were published on Right Minds where he claimed to be the "leader of the One New Zealand Party", something Mr. Davie disputes.

 

One New Zealand Party, the split. The whole Truth.

From the Party Founder and Elected Leader, Paul Davie

This is a one of statement to counter the half truths, and outright lies circulating about the One New Zealand Party, myself and Michael Whybro. Neither myself nor Michael Whybro will be entering into any public discussions on this matter, however we are not prepared to stand by and see the party or ourselves maligned.

Many of you will have seen two facebook pages for the One New Zealand party, and many posts on various pages often to say the least, derogatory to myself and the current and duly elected Chairman of the Board of the One New Zealand Party, Michael Whybro.

The author of those posts has either been Andy Oakley the self appointed Leader of the New, The One New Zealand Party, or one of his minions.

So what happened?

Fact: Andy Oakley joined the One New Zealand and attended the first day only, of a two day conference and AGM in Wellington on the 3rd and 4th of November 2018. He had the very real expectation that he was a shoe in for the position of the Leader of the party. He had stated as much to some of the people who attended that conference.

Fact: A board was elected at the AGM including Michael Whybro as the Chairman of the Board, and two nominations were accepted for Leader and Deputy Leader of the Party, and the AGM agreed unanimously on the Board deciding and appointing the two candidates at their first board meeting.

Fact: The One New Zealand Party Constitution was presented in draft format to the AGM and it was accepted and commended to the Board for ratification after any changes required, to ensure if was in line with our party structure, had been effected.

Fact: At the first Board meeting the five elected board members voted unanimously to appoint Paul Davie as Leader of the party and Andy Oakley as deputy. While Andy Oakley has said many times he was ok with this decision, his actions and statements subsequently would suggest otherwise.

Fact: Prior to and including at the last board meeting of the One New Zealand Party there were no allegations of wrong doing against the Board Chairman, and actually Andy Oakley was the only person to have any ongoing grievance, personal or otherwise, toward Michael Whybro, the Elected Board Chairman.

Fact: Immediately following the last Board meeting Michael Whybro was involved in an online facebook fracas which he himself admits he did not handle well for a number of reasons.

Fact: I was on a very short two day holiday with family and I received phone calls from A board member and threatening emails from Andy Oakley about the issue including if I did not follow his prescribed course of action and fire Michael Whybro the board would loose confidence in me as Leader.

Fact: I contacted our Board Chairman and discussed what had happened and arranged to convene a board meeting where he would have a chance to defend himself, and for the Board to make an informed decision. I also meet Michael Whybro prior to that arranged meeting to get a full run down on what had happened. I asked Michael Whybro to send out an invitation to all board members to attend, which he did as he had access to the zoom account that allowed for extended zoom meetings otherwise the meeting would be constrained to a maximum of 40 minutes.

Fact: Andy Oakley and two of the other board members convened an unconstitutional board meeting without my knowledge or approval as Party Leader and halfway through pulled in a fourth board member and they were convinced that the board chairmans conduct was so outrageous that I as Leader must be compelled to fire him immediately or they would lose confidence in me. This was not the first time Andy Oakley had made unfounded accusations about me in an open membership forum without first discussing any situation with me.

Fact: After that unconstitutional meeting Andy Oakley rang the fifth board member and told him what the other four had decided and convinced him to go along with their decision, after which Andy Oakley messaged me to ring him urgently.
Fact: At the unconstitutional board meeting one of the attending board members was not a fully paid up member of the One New Zealand Party, and as such was not constitutionally able to vote on any board matters, and the fifth board member that Andy Oakley called after the unconstitutional Board meeting was also not a fully paid up financial member and was also unable to vote on any board matters. Subsequently their decision was based on three out seven board members and as such did not pass as a decision of the board, either regular or unconstitutional.

Fact: I rang Andy Oakley and he conveyed the outcome of their unconstitutional board meeting and insisted I fire Michael Whybro immediately and stated that he had tried to warn me several times. I call them threats not warnings.

Fact: I notified Andy Oakley that I had put in place a meeting for the following Tuesday evening when the board would hear the full story from Michael Whybro and the board could then make an informed decision based on all of the information available. Andy Oakley was adamant that the board had made their decision and that there was no good to come from such a meeting.

Fact: I subsequently rang each board member and to my surprise they reiterated Andy Oakleys words, that they could see not value in hearing all of the facts before making an informed decision, and they agreed with Andy Oakley that Michael Whybro must be fired immediately.

Fact: Every board member except Andy Oakley agreed that the process they had followed was flawed and should have been handled differently but were not prepared to go against Andy Oakleys decision to fire Michael Whybro immediately.

Fact: Given that I was faced with five out of a board of seven taking a contra position to myself, and me not being prepared to forego due process or a persons right to defend themselves, or be part of a lynch mob, I resigned, as I perceived that to be the least destructive course of action for the party. Yes that part is true.

Fact: A day and a half later after reflection and soul searching I decided I was not going to walk away from all of the hard work or the principles I had set this party up with, I RECINDED my resignation on the grounds that no official acceptance or action had been taken to accept it, and still has not. This is the part Andy Oakley fails to tell anyone.

Fact: Within a very short period of time Andy Oakley had appointed himself as Party Leader and was using the title even though no board meeting, either regular or unconstitutional, had bestowed the title upon him. He was self elected but in reality was still the elected Deputy Leader.

Fact: Andy Oakley and his band of mutineers established an unauthorised facebook page with the party name and even used a logo which I had designed, and all of the policies, documents and proceedures, which I had put in place.

Fact: The party is now split and some members have gone with the unofficial The One New Zealand Party while some have stayed with the Official the One New Zealand Party of which I, Paul Davie am the elected Leader, and Michael Whybro is the elected Board Chairman and as such we are the only people with the right to make decisions on behalf of the One New Zealand Party.

To this end we are investigating our options and after due and carefull consideration we will plot a way forward for the Party, the only Given is that Andy Oakley, Tim Levchenko-Scott, Warren Preiss, Justin Nobbs and Adolf Peiter Van Aamersfoort will not be part of this parties future. We hold strongly to our founding principles of Honesty, Integrity and accountability, and as such we can not accept any of these individuals in to the party in any capacity.

Thank you for Listening
Paul Davie,
Party Leader, the One New Zealand Party

 

Right Minds has previously received complaints about Mr. Whybro's communications by someone led to believe he was associated with us (he never has been). I have also been on the receiving end of his rather unique way of communication.

Paul Davie and Michael Whybro's Facebook page: One New Zealand Party.

Andy Oakley and the rest of the board's Facebook page: The One New Zealand Party.

Right Minds is a non-partisan media organisation and we do not resolve internal political disputes or endorse any political organisation over any other. Both Tim and Andy have been valuable contributors here for a very long time and they will remain as such.

Dieuwe de Boer
Editor In Chief

About the author

Dieuwe de Boer

Editor of Right Minds NZ, columnist at The BFD, and Secretary General for the New Conservatives. Follow me on Telegram and Twitter. In addition to writing about conservative politics and reactionary thought, I like books, gardening, biking, tech, reformed theology, beauty, and tradition.