Liz Gunn

Elizabeth Jane Cooney, commonly known as Liz Gunn (born 1960 (age 63)), is the leader of the New Zealand Loyal Party, and is an anti-vaccination activist, conspiracy theorist, and a former television presenter from New Zealand.

Law and broadcasting career
Gunn was a litigation lawyer before beginning her TV career on the TVNZ show Sunday in 1992. From 1997 she was the first Breakfast newsreader, becoming one of the show's co-hosts (alongside Mike Hosking) in 2001. She unexpectedly quit that role on-air during the year's last episode. By then she had also begun broadcasting on Radio New Zealand. Other television roles included reporting for Holmes and newsreading on 1 News. Gunn moved to Australia after her TV presenting days ended in 2002, returning to New Zealand a decade later. She rejoined RNZ until 2016.

In 2017 she became a director and one-third shareholder of a new company, Lifeforce Water Limited.

Anti-vaccination activism
During the 2020s she became a leader in the anti-vaccination movement in New Zealand, and championed conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine causing harm. When an earthquake struck the North Island in October 2021, Gunn called it Mother Nature's response to vaccination targets (which she described as "jab rape") and other covid-related policies implemented by the "tyrannical" Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern.

She was a leader and spokesperson in the 2022 protests occupying the New Zealand parliament grounds.

In December 2022 she was the spokesperson for parents who refused to allow their child to have a blood transfusion using blood donations from vaccinated people.

Auckland Airport assault
In February 2023 Gunn assaulted Auckland Airport security co-ordinator, Anna Kolodeznaya, at the airport's international arrivals gate. Along with cameraman Jonathan Clark, she was there to film the arrival of an unvaccinated family arriving from Tokelau. They scuffled with the security guard and were both arrested by airport police. She appeared in court the next month, charged with assault, trespass, and resisting arrest. Her plea was not guilty, and she was released on bail.

Gunn missed her next court date in June, citing illness, but appeared in October and at a pre-trial hearing in January 2024. Gunn and Clark's trial started on 7 May 2024. Speaking to supporters upon arrival, she asked for prayers and said that New Zealand ought to "come back home to God".

The judge dismissed the trespass charge, leaving Gunn defending charges of assault and resisting arrest. The victim, Kolodeznaya, testified that Gunn and Clark were asked to stop using professional filming equipment in the airport, for which they hadn't sought permission. During an argument that followed, Gunn grabbed Kolodeznaya's arm, hurting her.

Kolodeznaya also testified that Gunn asked her, “Where are you from originally?” and that she said, “the way it started in Germany was with little freedoms being taken”. In her own testimony, Gunn attempted to explain her description of Kolodeznaya and another airport worker as "real Nazis".

Gunn was found guilty of assault. Both she and Clark were found not guilty of resisting arrest. The verdicts were delivered on 21 May 2024.

New Zealand Loyal
In June 2023 Gunn announced a new political party, New Zealand Loyal. In the launch video she discussed conspiracies involving fluoridation, 1080, Bill Gates, "gender programming", the World Economic Forum, media, the 15-minute city urban planning concept, the "brown mafia", and odd weather patterns. She requested donations of up to $1,000,000 and stated an ambition to have 500 people (the minimum required to register a party) join within a week.

Gunn said at the time that it is a "compliment" to be called a conspiracy theorist, but by the end of the election campaign she was tired of that label.

New Zealand Loyal was registered two months after Gunn's initial announcement. Its official logo includes the slogan, "Loyal to You, Not to Them". Gunn said that the slogan refers to "the globalists".

2023 general election
During the 2023 New Zealand general election, NZ Loyal had intended to run a 15-person list in the election but failed to register most of those individuals in time. Consequently NZ Loyal's official party list contained Gunn, Peter Drew and Phillip George Engel. Engel then left the party so the list effectively contained only two candidates. Had NZ Loyal passed the 5% vote threshold those two would have become MPs with the rest of the party's seats staying vacant.

Gunn initially took responsibility for the administrative debacle, putting it down to "human error" within the party. Some days later she instead blamed "contradictory advice" from the Electoral Commission, which the party suspected may have been deliberate sabotage. Chief electoral officer Karl Le Quesne said that the Commission worked closely with all parties before and during the nomination period, that NZ Loyal submitted a list with three candidates within time, and that they had asked to add more people after the 14 September deadline. This was down to the party misunderstanding the difference between its "bulk information schedule" (which applies to constituency candidates and could be amended until noon on 15 September) and its actual party list (which could not).

Short of list candidates, Gunn changed her campaign strategy and began calling a vote for NZ Loyal a "protest vote" that will reduce the number of MPs in parliament.

The issue of the NZ Loyal list went to the High Court in Wellington on 6 October. The party's lawyer argued that the court could simply declare that the list had been submitted before the deadline. The judge called this a "novel and creative" idea and said that, "If you leave it to the last minute and something goes wrong, the responsibility falls squarely on the party." The Electoral Commission argued that deadlines and time frames should be strictly observed. No changes were allowed to the party list.

New Zealand Loyal stood candidates in 33 electorates. Liz Gunn was not one of them.

During the 2023 election, NZ Loyal received 1.20% of the party vote (34,456 votes), and won no electorates, so did not enter parliament. Gunn had claimed during the campaign that her NZ Loyal party would win 2 million votes. In response to the preliminary results, Gunn stated that New Zealand was being ruled by a "criminal cabal and at the very least, utter bullies."