Tony Kunowski

Tony Kunowski
Tony Kunowski
Member of the Canterbury Regional Council
	In office; 10 October 1992 – 14 October 1995
Constituency	Christchurch
3rd Leader of the Values Party
	In office; 19 April 1976 – 12 May 1979
Deputy	Margaret Crozier
Preceded by	Reg Clough
Succeeded by	Margaret Crozier
Personal details
Born	Antony Hubert Kunowski; 1946; England
Political party	Values (1972-1979)
Alma mater	University of Canterbury

Antony Hubert Kunowski (born 1946) is a New Zealand politician. He was the leader of the Values Party in the 1970s and was later an elected local-body representative in Canterbury.

Biography

Kunowski was born in England, the son of a free Polish forces pilot who fought in the Battle of Britain, before migrating to New Zealand in 1962. Living initially in Stokes Valley he attended Naenae College and went to Victoria University, where he studied towards a Bachelor of Science in mathematics, though finished the degree at University of Canterbury. He then worked in a marketing job with an oil company before deciding to return to university studying for two years to attain a Master of Commerce degree. He was subsequently employed at the Department of Industries and Commerce.^[1] He then became a tutor in economics and statistics at the Christchurch Technical Institute.^[2]

He joined the Values Party in 1972 (the year the party was founded) and helped set up the party's Papanui branch.^[2] At the 1975 and 1978 elections he stood as the Values Party candidate in the Christchurch electorate of Papanui where he placed third and fourth respectively.^[3] In 1976 he was elected leader of the party.^[2] At the 1978 election he was the leader of the party which saw the party lose 2.78% of the vote. In 1979 deputy leader Margaret Crozier challenged Kunowski for the leadership of the party. She was successful defeating Kunowski 151 votes to 140 in a members ballot at the annual party conference.^[4] Following his defeat, he responded by leaving the Values Party altogether.^[5]

He later became a banker. He then joined the Labour Party and was elected to the Canterbury Regional Council in 1992 on the Labour ticket.^[6] He was narrowly defeated in 1995 following an electoral boundary redrawing.^[7]

In 2013 he became the Manager at Canterbury Horticultural Society.

Notes

^ Coates, Ken (27 April 1976). "New Values leader young and economically minded". The Press. Vol. CXVI, no. 34138. p. 19.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Christchurch man new leader of Values Party". The Press. Vol. CXVI, no. 34131. 19 April 1976. p. 1.
^ Norton 1988, p. 312.
^ Collins, Simon (12 May 1979). "Values' Top Man Ousted". The Evening Post. p. 1.
^ Stephens, Piers; Barry, John; Dobson, Andrew (2006). Contemporary Environmental Politics: From Margins to Mainstream. Abingdon: Routledge. p. 81. ISBN 9781134222506. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
^ "Canterbury Regional Council". The Press. 12 October 1992. p. 4.
^ "Canterbury Regional Council". The Press. 16 October 1995. p. 6.

References

Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.