Julian Batchelor

Julian Geoffrey Peter Batchelor (born 4 May 1958) is a New Zealand Christian evangelist, writer and blogger who led the controversial nationwide 2023 "Stop co-governance" roadshow, which was accused of promoting hostility towards Māori people and disinformation about co-governance.

Batchelor was born in Kenya on 4 May 1958.

His parents lived in Kenya during the colonial period prior to Kenya declaring independence from Britain in 1963.

Batchelor emigrated with his parents from Britain to New Zealand in 1967.

He studied educational psychology at Massey University's Palmerston North campus from 1980 to 1985 where he underwent a born again experience in 1982 and converted to Christianity.

He attended Palmerston North Teachers' College (1983-1985).

Though he initially associated with Roman Catholic nuns and considered becoming a Catholic priest, Batchelor became an evangelical Christian. He obtained a degree in theology from New Zealand's Laidlaw College (1988-1990).

He regards Anglican theologian J.I. Packer, Anglican cleric and theologian John Stott, and theologian, Anglican priest, and Christian apologist Michael Green as his faith heroes.

Around 1992, Batchelor quit his brief teaching career of about two years and became a Christian evangelist, believing that God had called him to share the Christian Gospel with other New Zealanders.

In 1997, Batchelor organised an anti-gay letter-writing campaign and over 200 letters arrived at Auckland City Council protesting the Hero Parade.

In 1999, he co-founded and acted as spokesperson for a local chapter of American organization Stop Promoting Homosexuality.

In 2000, Batchelor used images of Martin Luther King, Dame Whina Cooper, Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi to protest against gay rights in Auckland.

Both Cooper's family and King's Estate expressed upset that their images had been used without permission.

Batchelor was the New Zealand First candidate in the Mount Albert electorate in the 2005 New Zealand general election.

He gained fourth place, winning 1,089 votes.

The electorate was retained by Prime Minister Helen Clark.

He spent about ten years writing his book Evangelism: Strategies from Heaven in the War for Souls that was published in 2006, which articulated the evangelical Christian view that there was a battle between the forces of light and darkness for human souls.

In 2007, Batchelor established the Evangelism Strategies International Christian charity, of which he is the director, to promote his evangelical ministry.

Batchelor criticised mainstream Christianity for allegedly downplaying the doctrine of Hell, and he also criticised the Anglican Church of New Zealand for its alleged pro-gay agenda.

Journalist Matthew Scott has likened Batchelor's evangelical zeal to American televangelists Billy Graham and Joel Osteen.

According to Otago Daily Times columnist Jean Balchin, Batchelor subscribes to a binary evangelical Christian worldview of good versus evil which framed his political views on Māori social and cultural objectives and co-governance.

In 2008, Batchelor purchased Oke Bay Lodge at Rawhiti in the eastern Bay of Islands.

With the help of mainly voluntary labour from Christian colleagues, Batchelor restored the two-storey villa and established a Christian retreat that would serve as accommodation for visitors to the Cape Brett track.

To fund the development and restoration of the Lodge, Batchelor briefly became a real estate agent for Barfoot & Thompson in Auckland and Whangārei.

In late 2015, Batchelor became locked in a dispute with local Rawhiti residents over the construction of a conspicuous 3-metre-high retaining wall at the frontage to the Lodge that is next to a public road and the sea.

Although Batchelor had obtained resource consent from to build the wall, a local group called "Te Komiti o te Kaitiaki o Opourua" petitioned the Far North District Council (FNDC) to take action against Batchelor over alleged by-law breaches of the Council's consent and adverse impact on the local environment and wāhi tapu (sites of cultural significance to local Māori).

Key complaints to FNDC against Batchelor included that his retaining wall was constructed on unstable land; he had removed or heavily pruned, very old and culturally-important pohutukawa trees next to the road; his earthworks polluted the beach during a storm; and his activities and land changes around the Lodge had disrupted Māori access to a culturally-important cemetery.

In December 2015, Council staff inspected the site and found that work on the retaining wall failed to fully comply with the FNDC consent and other work on the property was undertaken without consent.

Despite being ordered to stop work, Batchelor's contractor continued to work on the retaining wall during the 2015–2016 Christmas break.

Batchelor was also requested to carry out an archaeological assessment of the Lodge property after Heritage New Zealand said it contained several archaeological sites associated with "living platforms".

The FNDC issued Batchelor and his company (Gracealone Oke Bay Holdings) four infringement notices for non-compliance totalling NZ$3,000.

Although Batchelor had appealed against two of the fines, he missed the 28-day deadline for the other two.

By 2016, Batchelor had established a multimillion-dollar property portfolio.

On 10 August 2020, the FNDC took him to court for non-payment of fines.

Since the court was preoccupied with a murder trial, Judge Greg Davis requested Batchelor and the FNDC resolve their differences out of court.

As part of the settlement, Batchelor and his company agreed on 12 August 2020 to pay a total of $1,500 to the FNDC.

In July 2020, a local iwi (tribe) applied for Heritage New Zealand to designate parts of his land as wāhi tapu.

Batchelor said that he did not see the notifications from Heritage New Zealand before it approved the application in March 2022, after which he lodged an objection.

He considered that designation to be equivalent to someone gaining unauthorised control of his land.

He decided at that moment to channel his energy into anti co-governance activism, stating that "I'm mobilizing. That's enough - 14 years of living in tribal rule. It's absolute hell. And if this is what's coming to New Zealand, I need to go and warn people".