39 Facts About Lee Vandervis

Lee Vandervis was born on 1955 and is a local-body politician who was first elected to the Dunedin City Council in the 2004 local elections.

Lee Vandervis failed to win mayor again in 2022, but he was re-elected to the Council.

Lee Vandervis is the second son of Dutch immigrant parents.

Lee Vandervis received a BA in Philosophy from the University of Otago, and has worked as a music technician.

At the 1984 New Zealand general election Lee Vandervis stood for Bob Jones' New Zealand Party in the Dunedin North electorate.

Lee Vandervis served as the Chair of the Dunedin City Council Heritage Fund and the Heritage Buildings Re-use Committee.

Lee Vandervis resigned from that role on 22 September 2020.

Lee Vandervis is on the Board of the Otago Settlers Museum.

Lee Vandervis has suggested that Christchurch's proposed stadium would be a waste of money.

Lee Vandervis's comments were based on his experience with Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium.

Lee Vandervis stood for re-election in the October 2013 local election as a Dunedin City Councillor; he contested the Dunedin mayoralty for the fourth time.

On 16 March 2015, Lee Vandervis was subject to a code of conduct hearing dealing with three complaints against him for his alleged bullying, aggressive, and misleading behaviour.

On 1 May 2015, Lee Vandervis was temporarily stripped of his voting rights after failing to apologise for these actions.

In October 2016, Lee Vandervis contested the 2016 mayoral and local elections.

In July 2017, Lee Vandervis settled a defamation lawsuit against Mayor Cull for NZ$50,000 due to legal delays and spiralling costs.

Lee Vandervis had sued Cull following an exchange in December 2015 in which Lee Vandervis alleged that Cull paid a bribe to secure a council contract in the 1980s.

Lee Vandervis claimed that Cull, in his response to the allegations, had defamed him.

Lee Vandervis originally sought NZ$250,000 in general damages and NZ$250,000 in exemplary damages along with legal costs.

In early September 2019, Lee Vandervis drew criticism when he made remarks that young voters were ignorant or did not care about candidates during a mayoral debate organised by the Otago University Students' Association.

Lee Vandervis contested the complaint and uploaded a CCTV video on social media to support his claim that he did not verbally abuse.

The Court of Appeal agreed with both the judicial review and the initial process that the Council had followed, with the exception of noting that Lee Vandervis should have received a written copy of the allegation made against him.

In July 2022 Lee Vandervis sought leave from the Supreme Court of New Zealand to hear the case.

On 12 October 2019, Lee Vandervis was re-elected to the Dunedin City Council as a councillor but lost the mayoral contest to Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand candidate Aaron Hawkins.

In mid-October 2020, independent investigator Steph Dyhrberg found that Lee Vandervis had engaged in intimidatory behaviour during an argument with Deputy Mayor Christine Garey in late July 2020.

Lee Vandervis remained defiant during the hearing, alleging that the problem was council mismanagement and misrepresentation.

Lee Vandervis' views were supported by University of Otago geography Professor Claire Freeman, who said that contemporary children experienced less freedom than previous generations, reducing their ability to handle risk.

In early October 2021, Lee Vandervis led an anti-lockdown "Families Freedom Picnic" that was held in Dunedin's Queens Gardens.

In November 2021 Lee Vandervis voted against a proposed rainbow pedestrian crossing.

In early December 2021, Lee Vandervis objected to the Dunedin City Council's vaccine pass requirement for accessing council premises and services as part of the New Zealand Government's COVID-19 Protection Framework.

Since Lee Vandervis had chosen not to get vaccinated for COVID-19, he was only allowed to attend virtual council meetings.

Lee Vandervis claimed that the Governments' COVID-19 policies breached the right to refuse medical treatment under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, free speech, lawful assembly, and justice.

Lee Vandervis objected to the trespass notice, claiming that access to essential services could not be restricted based on vaccine status.

On 23 February 2022, Lee Vandervis supported fellow councillor Andrew Whiley's motion for the Dunedin City Council to join "Communities 4 Local Democracy," a coalition of local bodies opposed to the Government's Three Waters reform programme.

In late April 2022, Lee Vandervis was identified as having personally edited his own Wikipedia page, in breach of Wikipedia's conflict of interest policy.

Lee Vandervis's edits removed several relevant passages in the article, including references to various incidents that cast Vandervis in a negative light.

In late March 2023, Lee Vandervis was the only member of the Dunedin City Council to accept an invitation to meet with Vision NZ founder Hannah Tamaki and her husband Brian Tamaki, the founder and leader of Destiny Church.

Laufiso claimed that Lee Vandervis made disparaging remarks about Te Pae Maori, which constituted a breach of the DCC's code of conduct.

In mid-March 2024, Lee Vandervis was the sole councillor to oppose a DCC motion to adopt draft operating budgets for the purpose of community engagement.

On 31 July 2024, the independent investigator Jordan Boyle concluded that Lee Vandervis had breached the DCC's code of conduct through an email he had sent on 16 July 2023, his non-attendance of Te Pae Maori meetings and for describing the council committee's mana whenua members as "anti-democratic" and "race-based" representation.