KEY POINTS:
For a man who advocates traditional family values, Kiwi Party leader Larry Baldock has an unconventional past.
The 54-year-old is one of six children reared by a single mother, and in the past he smoked marijuana, took LSD and was a Hare Krishna follower.
Mr Baldock's mother left
his father when he was 2, and he later found he had two more siblings.
His parents were not married, and he says his lack of a father led him down a path of drugs and alternative religion in his late teens and early 20s.
He gradually tired of his '70s lifestyle and, sobered by the fact he had friends who did not survive, he converted to Christianity at 21.
For the past 30 years, Mr Baldock has regularly attended church, brought up three children with wife Barbara, and spent 15 years doing relief work in the Philippines.
He and MP Gordon Copeland formed the Kiwi Party in February after splitting with United Future over its support of the anti-smacking law, which they say is "anti-family".
Repealing the legislation is the main platform of the 37-candidate Kiwi Party, and Mr Baldock has already forced the Government to commit itself to a referendum on the issue by gathering nearly 400,000 signatures.
But the one-time MP and Tauranga City councillor argues that a referendum does not go far enough, and wants people to vote for the Kiwi Party to ensure it can influence a National government to honour the result.
On the left-right political spectrum, he regards the Kiwi Party as centre, both socially and economically, saying it would "stand up for people on benefits", while advocating a return to timeless values exemplified by people such as Sir Edmund Hillary.
"Many New Zealanders share those values and they worry they're being eroded in our legislation."
Mr Baldock is keen to dispel suggestions that the Kiwi Party is exclusively Christian.
"Everyone's welcome in this party who shares the same values and a concern about families and New Zealand."
In national polls, the Kiwi Party barely registers, but Mr Baldock says internal polling is showing healthy results.
On issues such as crime, the Kiwi Party believes the "breakdown of family" is responsible, and would invest in more parenting and marriage courses.
