Opinion: Should Peter Thiel Be the Next New Zealander of the Year?

SATIRE | ISSUE FOUR/20 | RONGOĀ / DRUGS

Written by Caeden Tipler (they/them) | @caedentipler | Contributing Writer

Last month, entrepreneur Sir Rod Drury was named as the 2026 New Zealander of the Year. He is most well-known for founding Xero, the cloud-based accounting software for small businesses. 

Drury is also known for supporting the New Zealand Citizenship application of Peter Thiel, co-founder of Paypal and Palantir, after Thiel invested in Xero during its start-up days in the early 2010s. Years after Thiel’s citizenship was personally approved by then Immigration Minister Hon. Nathan Guy, it was revealed that Thiel had visited New Zealand only four times, had never lived in New Zealand and didn’t plan to. 

This begs the question, if Drury is a worthy New Zealander of the Year, why not New Zealand Citizen Peter Thiel?

Thiel is very proud to be a New Zealander. In 2024 he told podcaster Joe Rogan that he was eyeing a permanent move here to escape the “confiscatory taxation” in California. Luckily for Thiel, New Zealand isn’t great at taxing wealth. Rogan’s audience will have appreciated the tip-off, and we should be grateful for the exposure. 

Thiel also attempted to build a luxury lodge in Wānaka, but abandoned the plans after pesky environmental protection regulations got in the way. But we know it’s the thought that counts. 

It is not only Peter Thiel’s domestic achievements that deserve to be celebrated, but his international ones too. 

Thiel has excellent political instincts. He was an early supporter of United States President Donald Trump, becoming officially affiliated with the Republican Party in 2017. He also supported the political rise of Vice President JD Vance, including putting NZ$24.7 million into Vance’s 2022 campaign and reportedly taking Vance to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago office in 2021. 

JD Vance is most known for complaining to conservative commentator Tucker Carlson about the US being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies” during the 2024 election and his suggestions that Americans who choose not to have children should be punished with more taxes and fewer voting rights. 

In his spare time, Peter Thiel gives private lectures on the Antichrist, most recently delivering a series of these in Rome. Some of his past suggestions for who could be the Antichrist include figures like climate and anti-war activist Greta Thunberg, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Arguably, Thiel’s crowning achievement is co-founding Palantir, an incredibly influential data analytics firm that most people know very little about. Their clients are mostly military and government agencies, and Palantir helps its customers visualise large datasets through the use of artificial intelligence (i.e. mass surveillance.)

During its humble beginnings, Palantir was funded by the CIA-backed venture In-Q-Tel and has continued embracing government contracts since going public a few years ago. Since Trump took office in January of 2025, Palantir has received even more funding and contracts. Most recently, this includes being named as part of Trump’s NZ$323.9 billion “Golden Dome” missile defence system project. 

Some of Palantir’s other projects include helping the Trump administration build a detailed database with information about Americans to optimise immigration enforcement, enabling the Los Angeles Police Department to engage in both racial profiling and mass surveillance, and helping the Israel Defence Forces plan attacks on Lebanon and Gaza. 

That’s a New Zealander who has had an impact. Who else could be a future New Zealander of the Year? 

As put by Sir Rod Drury to Radio New Zealand in 2017, New Zealand should make the same (citizenship) offers to other wealthy and influential people. His suggestions include Bill Gates (note - could be the antichrist) and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. 

Nominations for the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year open around mid-July. Watch this space.