In part one of this, I drew back the curtain to reveal the Atlas Network.
I mentioned David Seymour’s strong connection to this network and touched on his involvement with an Atlas-connected lobby group in Canada, which I hope more information comes to light about.
Today I want to talk about another Atlas aligned connection, one that I call the apparatus mainline in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The reason I call it that is so much of misinformation, disinformation and malinformation that many on the right buy into and believe comes through this group.
It is also because this group is a link to many other smaller so-called “community advocacy” groups.
That group is the Taxpayer’s Union.
Jordan Williams heads up this so-called union, founded in 2013 by National Party pollster David Farrer and Williams.
They have been a part of the Atlas Network since at least 2016, alongside the New Zealand Initiative.
| ATLAS NETWORK – NZ ORGANISATIONS | ||||||||||||||
| Organisation | Year | |||||||||||||
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
| Education Forum | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Maxim Institute | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| NZ Business Roundtable | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Taxpayers’ Union | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| The NZ Initiative | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
Source: DeSmog webpage on the Atlas Network
A quick note – the above table shows the Maxim Institute being part of Atlas Network from at least 2003 until 2015. This coincides with Maxim being led by Greg Fleming, who is now the National Party MP for Maungakiekie.
But back to the Taxpayers’ Union.
Cindy Baxter in her Newsroom story said Jordan Williams was “quite the hero at Atlas”. He attended their “MBA training” in 2015, which is probably the same training David Seymour went through in 2008, and he was awarded a fellowship in 2018.
Source: Atlas Network. Jordan Williams with other 2015 Think Tank participants and Atlas Network staff.
Atlas are quite the fanboys of Williams and the TPU, having written about him a number of times.
Interestingly, and despite the Taxpayers’ Union having declared its association with Atlas, Williams is not a big fan of having that connection so clearly laid out in public.
On the platform formerly known as Twitter, a post suggesting questions for journalists to ask David Seymour resulted in a poor attempt from Williams to call the post “absolutely cooked”. Amusingly, most of the replies challenged Williams about the TPU’s connections to Atlas.
The reality is we need to ask these questions.
As University of Auckland associate professor of law Timothy Kuhner said to David Williams, we need more transparency around groups like the TPU and their connections to global networks like Atlas.
“What we’re seeing is an increase in the number of ways that people can influence electoral outcomes, and the formation of public opinion, free from public scrutiny.”
As well as being the executive director of the TPU, according to his Linkedin profile, Williams is also a director of The Campaign Company, as well as the co-founder and board member of the Free Speech Union. He was the FSU chair until the end of 2022.
The Taxpayers’ Union was revealed to be the group that registered the website domain name www.motherofallprotests.nz for Groundswell, the “fringe agricultural group” whose tractor protests clogged up motorways during 2022.
According to David Williams, the ownership of that domain (which appears to no longer be live on the internet) was moved to The Campaign Company.
This Williams company prefers to work away in the dark too.
It does have a website, but strangely for a digital marketing company, there is zero promotion of previous campaigns and testimonials from happy clients.
Instead there is a holder page with a “contact” form to fill out and a brief sentence:
“We provide digital campaign services to political and commercial clients across the globe. We combine political experience and local understanding with international best practice and technology to offer a best-in-class service across our four key competencies.”
Screenshot of The Campaign Company website
Questions need to asked by our journalists and a spotlight shone on Williams, the TPU and their backers like Atlas.
After all, the TPU are behind the Stop Three Waters campaign, and the Stop Central Planning Committees amoung others.
These two campaigns were adopted by the conspiracy theory community, so-called “equal citizenship” groups like Democracy Action and people involved enjoyed giving the perception that the campaigns were grass-roots when they were anything but.
Authorisation boilerplate at the bottom of the Stop Three Waters website.
Ironically, in the wake of the current government’s scrapping of Three Waters, the TPU are now attacking councils for proposing double digit rates hikes to try and fund the infrastructure spend that the Three Waters proposal would have covered.
And the TPU are attacking the Make It 16 campaign, and are wading into the current Te Tiriti debate pushed by fellow Atlas alumni David Seymour.
In December 2023 they brought Lord Daniel Hannan over to New Zealand for their 10th birthday.
While here, he gave a talk on equality and the Treaty that was attended by a number of coalition MPs.
Yes, one of the script-writers of Brexit was telling our newly elected government MPs what Te Tiriti, our founding document, was all about.
Not surprisingly, it was a speech that was shared by another Atlas connected group, the New Zealand Initiative, as well as the racism-pushing blog Bassett Brash and Hide.
Sadly, this kind of thing will continue.
Expect more attacks on our democracy by Atlas Network connected lobby groups and think tanks and all the affiliated groups.
As such, given the influence from Atlas on Williams himself and on the TPU, and given the influence the TPU has on the political right, their nefarious actions need to be highlighted and have the transparency spotlight shone on.
We cannot rest. Our nation’s founding document and our unique, beautiful democracy are at threat.
Be informed. Help others get informed.
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