Victor Billot

Victor Billot is a former co-leader and electoral candidate for New Zealand's Alliance party. He is also known as a writer, musician, unionist, past editor of Critic Te Ārohi magazine, and a performer in the bands Alpha Plan,^[1] Age of Dog^[2] and Das Phaedrus.^[3]

NewLabour and the Alliance Party

Billot was a founding member of the NewLabour Party, which was set up in 1989 by Jim Anderton.^[4] In 1991, NewLabour was one of four parties to form the Alliance political party.

He was a candidate for the Alliance in 2005 (at number eight on their list), 2008 (three), and 2011 (six), contesting the Dunedin North electorate.^[5]^[6]^[7] In 2008, he was berated by the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, for all the faults of the National Party when she mistook him for a supporter of that party.^[8]

At the party's 2006 conference, held in Wellington, no co-leaders were elected. Instead the party decided to concentrate on internal reorganisation; Billot was elected president. At the 2007 national conference, held in Dunedin, two co-leaders were elected, Billot and Kay Murray, with Paul Piesse returning to his former role as Party President. Billot was co-leader for one year.^[9]

Billot persuaded his Wellington friend and businessman Jack Yan to stand for the Alliance in 2008;^[10] Yan was number 12 on the list, but did not contest an electorate.^[6]

Clare Curran, the New Zealand Labour Party MP for Dunedin South from 2008 to 2020, has repeatedly encouraged Billot to join her party.^[11]

He stepped down from his role as Spokesman and occasional co-leader of the Alliance Party in March 2014.^[12]

Billot still engages in left wing activism in Dunedin, campaigning against cuts to postal services in 2015.^[13]

Professional life

Billot was the National Communications Officer for the Maritime Union of New Zealand between 2003 and 2016.^[14] In January 2017 he began working as publicist for the Otago University Press.^[15] He writes a weekly column for Newsroom.^[16]

Publications

Billot has published three poetry collections:

2014: Mad Skillz For The Demon Operators^[17]
2015: Machine Language^[18]
2017: Ambient Terror^[19]

His work has also appeared in Australian and New Zealand literary journals including Cordite,^[20] Meniscus,^[21] Minarets^[22] and Takahē.^[23]

Recordings

Billot has recorded several albums since the early 1990s with music groups in addition to a solo album, including:

1996: City of Bastards^[24] by Alpha Plan
2002: Plutocracy by Victor Billot
2016: Machine Language by Alpha Plan

References

^ "Alpha Plan's first Dunedin show in 20 years". Otago Daily Times Online News. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
^ "Age Of Dog – AudioCulture". www.audioculture.co.nz. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
^ "Andrew Spittle – AudioCulture". www.audioculture.co.nz. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
^ Billot, Victor (10 February 2011). "New Zealand is ripe for an alternative: a new Left party". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
^ "Party Lists of Unsuccessful Registered Parties". Elections New Zealand. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Party Lists of Unsuccessful Registered Parties". Elections New Zealand. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
^ "Party lists for the 2011 General Election". Elections New Zealand. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
^ Mackenzie, Dene (14 October 2008). "Students give PM rock star welcome". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
^ New Zealand Press Association (17 March 2008). "Cheap Chinese labour paid the going rate – PM". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
^ Hewitson, Michele (31 August 2013). "Michele Hewitson Interview: Jack Yan". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
^ Rudd, Allison (8 November 2011). "Candidates find common ground at election forum". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
^ "Victor Billot | LinkedIn". Nz.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
^ "Question mark over posties | Otago Daily Times Online News : Otago, South Island, New Zealand & International News". Odt.co.nz. 14 February 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
^ "Alliance electorate candidates for 2011 announced" (Press release). New Zealand Alliance Party. Scoop. 25 October 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
^ "A man of a few words". Otago Daily Times. 23 January 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
^ "Victor Billot". Newsroom. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
^ Department, Malcolm Deans, Senior Library Assistant, Heritage. "What's New McNab". Dunedin Public Libraries. Retrieved 17 August 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ "Poetry roundup". Otago Daily Times Online News. 7 March 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
^ "The Quantum Uncertainty of Now". Landfall Review Online. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
^ "Life in the Permian". Cordite Poetry Review. 30 April 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
^ "Meniscus". Meniscus. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
^ "Victor Billot – min – a – rets". minarets.info. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
^ "Victor Billot". takahē magazine. 2 May 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
^ "Robots & Electronic Brains – eclectic music zine". www.robotsandelectronicbrains.co.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2018.