Bill Burr standing for King Country/Taranaki

There will be a new face at the candidates’ debate in Piopio on September 5, with Piopio farmer Bill Burr announcing his candidacy as an independent MP for the Taranaki-King Country electorate.

No stranger to publicity, Bill made national news following a violent home invasion on October 1, 2020 when he was bottled, knifed and bashed by a 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy.

The incident firmed up his attitudes regarding policing, law and order and the courts.

The main goal of the Government must be to protect the people, he said. He proposes to overturn the 2002 Sentencing Act which allows for discounts in sentencing.

“As a law maker, I’ll work to reduce the discounts as proposed by Chris Luxon [and now David Seymour],” he said. He also wants a return to the three strikes regime.

“We all did silly things as teenagers, but when violence and repetitive bad behaviour occurs, there have to be consequences,” Bill said. “I support National’s, Mark Mitchell’s “Boot Camp”, discipline, sport and education.

“I support most of Act’s law and order policies. We all know we can’t trust the police or authorities to keep us safe, especially in rural areas.”

Bill regained control on that October night by using a firearm to subdue the two home invaders while he phoned the police and his son Shaun, who arrived first. While waiting for police, Shaun, at Bill’s direction, cutting off to the first joint of the unruly youth’s finger, who was burgling Bill for the fourth time.

Police charged the Burrs with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, wounding with intent to injure, maiming with intent to injure, and maiming with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Bill was also charged with assaulting a female and assault with intent to injure. A jury found them not guilty on all charges after an eight-day trial.

Police seized the firearm, a shotgun given to Bill by his father when he was 15, and in December that year he was sentenced to six months’ community detention and 400 hours’ community work for unlawfully possessing two firearms and ammunition, discovered during and in the aftermath of  the 2020 home invasion.

It is because of his experience completing 400 hours of community work that Bill is in favour of a boot camp sentencing scheme. He enjoyed working with youth on the scheme and believes it will work with most.

“My probation officer complimented me on how I inspired the young ones, I only had to scold one person,” he said. “If we don’t do something now, together with a crackdown on gangs’ income from dealing in hard drugs, we’ve got a ticking time bomb in our rural communities.”

As an independent, Bill is seeking the electorate vote from King Country Taranaki voters. As an independent MP, he would not have to toe a party line, he said.

“If the new Government betrays us, as has happened in the past, I’ll fight hard for all our electorate, I won’t come off the field. I’m a problem solver,” he said.

If it was a close election, the Taranaki-King Country Electorate would have a lot of influence and power, he said.

Bill believes, having met Chris Luxon, that he will make a fine prime minister. He will support a National-led coalition to turn the cost-of-living crisis around, to stop unworkable regulations and undue costs on farmers and businesses, and deal to the present crime wave.

“I will stand up to the elite city liberals who don’t care about our regions and remind them where the country’s wealth comes from,” he said.

Neither the present Government nor Police Commissioner Andrew Coster had any respect for public safety or democracy, Bill said.

“From my encounter with the police, there are good cops [mostly those with experience], and then there are Coster cops who turn a blind eye to crime and lawless gangs.”

His home invader was on bail in Auckland and was driven three hours to Piopio by a gang member to steal a car, Bill said.

“Coster’s cops turned a blind eye to the gang member and lost the attacker’s knife after it was handed to her by an ambulance officer. A good cop told the Coster Cop to ‘do some policing not social working’.”

The truth came out under oath and the Crown case fell apart, Bill said.

It was not Bill’s first encounter with the law. After a five-year battle, he pleaded guilty to five charges over his illegal draining of the Arapae Wetland, a nationally and regionally significant wetland, on his farm beside State Highway 3. He was fined $73,102 and ordered to reinstate the wetland.

As a farmer, Bill is passionate about farming’s future, stating he will support the Act Party policies except for raising superannuation.

“I confronted [Green Party co-leader] James Shaw about being hypocritical for exempting international travel from climate tax,” Bill said. “He replied that he owned pine trees. He wants to hit citizens and farmers with more climate taxes. He’s a menace to our country.”

And National still wanted to tax farmers’ livestock for breathing. He disputes the National Party claim that famers are not in the same boat together.

All Emissions Trading Scheme costs were passed on.  He said for the average dairy farm that was $150,000, and for sheep and beef about $70,000 in extra costs that added to the cost of living for families.

Bill also slammed National for its support of pine tree carbon farming, which he said would decimate communities.

“If a 1958-like flood in the Ōtorohanga, Te Kūiti, Piopio catchments was to occur in 30 to 40 years’ time, we would have an Eskdale, Gisborne-like disaster, or February 7, 1973 [the hottest recorded NZ temperature] wild fires.

“I can understand some farmers looking for alternative income, but it’s a hoax by Labour and the Green Party. The higher the carbon price, which is not a supply and demand commodity, the higher the inflation.

“So, to compensate low-income earners and beneficiaries, they’ll bring in a wealth tax.

“Like electric vehicles are being subsidised by hard-working farmers and tradies through the ute tax. It’s unpatriotic.”

The current electorate MP, Barbara Kuriger from the National Party, no longer has his support and he doesn’t trust her judgment.