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 magazine, and a performer in the bands Alpha Plan,[1] Age of Dog[2] and Das Phaedrus.[3]

Victor Billot in 2008

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
  1. "Alpha Plan's first Dunedin show in 20 years". Otago Daily Times Online News. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  2. "Age Of Dog – AudioCulture". www.audioculture.co.nz. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  3. "Andrew Spittle – AudioCulture". www.audioculture.co.nz. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  4. Billot, Victor (10 February 2011). "New Zealand is ripe for an alternative: a new Left party". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  5. "Party Lists of Unsuccessful Registered Parties". Elections New Zealand. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  6. "Party Lists of Unsuccessful Registered Parties". Elections New Zealand. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  7. "Party lists for the 2011 General Election". Elections New Zealand. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  8. Mackenzie, Dene (14 October 2008). "Students give PM rock star welcome". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  9. New Zealand Press Association (17 March 2008). "Cheap Chinese labour paid the going rate – PM". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
  10. Hewitson, Michele (31 August 2013). "Michele Hewitson Interview: Jack Yan". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  11. Rudd, Allison (8 November 2011). "Candidates find common ground at election forum". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  12. "Victor Billot | LinkedIn". Nz.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  13. "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.
  14. "Alliance electorate candidates for 2011 announced" (Press release). New Zealand Alliance Party. Scoop. 25 October 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  15. "A man of a few words". Otago Daily Times. 23 January 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  16. "Victor Billot". Newsroom. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  17. 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)
  18. "Poetry roundup". Otago Daily Times Online News. 7 March 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  19. "The Quantum Uncertainty of Now". Landfall Review Online. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  20. "Life in the Permian". Cordite Poetry Review. 30 April 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  21. "Meniscus". Meniscus. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  22. "Victor Billot – min – a – rets". minarets.info. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  23. "Victor Billot". takahē magazine. 2 May 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  24. "Robots & Electronic Brains – eclectic music zine". www.robotsandelectronicbrains.co.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
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