Political parties can be judged by who their known financial backers are. The Labour Party’s biggest financial contributor is the low-profile billionaire Owen Glenn. So just who is Owen Glenn? And what does his rightwing political beliefs say about his choice to back the Labour Party? [Read more below]
The politics of Owen Glenn
Owen Glenn keeps a very low profile, and there are few public references to his personal politics, which is unusual for one of New Zealand politics’ biggest donors. Glenn has said he grew up leaning more towards the National Party's philosophy, and there is little indication that his politics have changed. Instead, the unusual alliance between the billionaire and Labour is more explainable by the fact that the politics of Labour and National have changed – to the point where Glenn is clearly comfortable aligning himself with the Labour Party. He notes that ‘National itself had moved towards the centre’, and therefore choices of government are now more about the quality of the personnel involved: ‘In my opinion, it comes down to the person at the helm’.
There should be no doubt that Glenn politics are rightwing. Certainly Glenn has radically rightwing views on taxation. Ex-pat New Zealand blogger Cactus Kate, who is a tax specialist living in Hong Kong, has had some dealings with Glenn, and reports that ‘he hates tax’. She has said (approvingly) that Glenn ‘has paid less tax in New Zealand than ANY, I repeat ANY member of the Business Roundtable. Even the ones now based overseas who were vilified for upping sticks’.
Because Glenn makes his money from international trade (through his global freighting business), he is strongly in favour of greater free trade agreements between countries. He has been open about supporting the New Zealand Labour Party due to its promotion of obtaining free trade deals between New Zealand and the US and between New Zealand and China.
As well as being economically rightwing, Glenn is judged to be rather socially conservative. According to Cactus Kate, her dealings with him lead her to believe that ‘He did not seem to like the “sisterhood”, unless they were hot and invited him to watch. He bemoaned the lefties in New Zealand and their sexual habits’. In line with this, the 65-year-old is well known in yachting circles to surround himself with glamorous young women. For instance, during the 2003 America's Cup, Glenn became well known at the Auckland Viaduct Harbour bars for his entourage of foreign supermodels.
His views on New Zealand’s anti-nuclear legislation is that it should be scrapped. He has been reported as believing that ‘now, for the sake of expediency, New Zealand needed to drop its no-nuclear stance and do a deal with the United States’ for free trade. He says: ‘Get the bloody thing. Pump another $4 billion into the country so we can afford another beer and put another ten bucks on the horses’.
The donations to Labour have not been Glenn’s only involvement in New Zealand politics – Glenn also once offered $1 million to entertainer Howard Morrison if he would stand for Parliament as an independent.
The business and wealth of Owen Glenn
Owen Glenn has not lived in New Zealand since 1966 but instead spends his time in Sydney, Monaco and England. However the shipping mogul is listed on the National Business Review’s New Zealand Rich List. In 2005 the Review noted him to be worth $1.1 billion. Glenn of course, neither confirms nor denies this estimated figure, but does say that ‘Everything is held in trust, so I can truthfully say I have about $200m’.
Glenn left Auckland’s Mt Roskill Grammar school at 16 and went on to found his global freight empire. He first worked in Sydney and London where he managed to amass $200,000 to put into starting up his first international freight company, Direct Container Line Inc in 1978 in the US. His empire now trades in 105 countries and goes under numerous brand names, but is under the umbrella of OTS Logistics Group Limited, of which Glenn is the chairman. The company has an annual turnover of about US$595. For further information see: http://www.otslogisticsgroup.com
Glenn’s commercial dealings haven’t always been squeaky-clean. For instance, there have been a number of serious fraud allegations made against Glenn that concern breaches of the Shipping Act by civil fraud. These allegations are detailed in the February 2006 issue of Investigate NZ magazine.
The politics of the Labour-Glenn alliance
Does the Labour Party have any ethical issues with receiving money from a businessman such as Owen Glenn. The party spent much of 2007 campaigning in favour of a more ethical political finance environment, yet appear to have no problem with receiving donations from Glenn. In fact, when Glenn’s donations were made public in 2005 the Labour Party was positively gloating about Glenn, and the Prime Minister continued to talk him up (until very recently). The Labour Party has been happy to be connected with Owen Glenn, regardless of his politics and business background. So despite being a huge tax evader, despite the allegations of fraud, despite being a rightwing businessman, and despite being socially conservative, Labour wants to be associated with such a donor.
This contrasts with other sources of funds that the Labour Party says they are unwilling to accept money from. According to the Labour Party’s 1999 general secretary, Rob Allen, the party ‘wouldn’t want to automatically receive donations from just anyone. We would want to know that they are a reputable source of funds’ (Interview with Rob Allen, 24 May 1999). But the Labour Party obviously regards Glenn as a reputable source of funds, and their arrangement with Glenn is some kind of endorsement of him (especially since they have also made him a Member of the Order of New Zealand). Furthermore, the fact that Owen Glenn chooses Labour as his preferred political vehicle in New Zealand says much about the modern Labour Party.
