United Future
United Future | |
|---|---|
| File:United Future new logo.jpg | |
| Leader | Peter Dunne |
| President | Denise Krum |
| Deputy | Judy Turner |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Bowen House, Parliament Buildings, Wellington |
| Ideology | Centrist |
| International affiliation | Not Affiliated |
| Colours | Purple and green |
| MPs in the House of Representatives | 2 |
| Website | |
| www.unitedfuture.org.nz | |
United Future New Zealand is a political party in the New Zealand parliament with two MPs -- one electorate MP (leader Peter Dunne) and one list MP (Judy Turner (see MMP for the difference). It currently has an agreement to support the Labour-Progressive coalition government in matters of confidence and supply.
Formation and early success
United Future was formed from the merger of centrist party United New Zealand and Christian-dominated conservative Future New Zealand to contest the 2002 election. United, formed as a centrist party by a group of moderate Labour and National MPs, held one seat in parliament. Future New Zealand, which was not represented in parliament, was a "secularised" evolution of the Christian Democrats, following the same basic principles as the Christian Democrats, but abandoning the explicit religious connection.
Some cynical commentators have said that the merger was more of a takeover, with the (arguably unelectable fundamentalist) Christian-dominated party, which had previously failed to reach the 5% MMP threshold, seeking an entry into Parliament via the security of Dunne's electorate seat, which the National Party accommodatingly did not contest in 1996 and 1999, but has contested since then. Indeed, many of United Future's original policies closely resembled those of the old Future New Zealand. In the 1999 election, United had gained 0.5% of the vote but Dunne won his electorate seat, while Future gained 1.1% of the vote.
United Future's first party president, Inky Tulloch, has stated that "United Future isn't a Christian party - it's a political party that has a lot of Christians in it, and a lot of non-Christians." Tulloch says that the "universal principles of family, of common sense, of looking after one another, of compassion, integrity" are equally valuable to both Christians and non-Christians. Critics of the party, however, claim that the party's refusal to call itself Christian is merely a branding exercise, with the party not wanting to limit its appeal.
Most of United Future's 2002 MPs were elected in an astonishing last-week election turn-around (popularly attributed to a graphic "support worm" displayed during one televised debate) that saw votes lost by both the Labour and the Green parties, who were engaged in a public squabble over genetic engineering. However, the party suffered a minor embarrassment when one of its list MPs, Kelly Chal, was forced to give up her seat after it was disclosed that she was not a New Zealand citizen.
Early activity
After 2002 United Future in its family law reform proposals took to heart the trauma and adverse impact on children caused by the separation of their parents. United Future MP Judy Turner made clear that present government policies were failing in regard to keeping both parents in children's lives, and to this extend made a huge effort in forwarding a Member’s Bill on mandatory mediation by means of a national roll-out of the North Shore Family Court "Children in the Middle" pilot programme.
United Future MPs exercised their individual conscience votes to oppose a Bill to enable civil unions. This provided an alternative to marriage for same-sex couples and to opposite-sex couples who choose not to marry. A civil union provides a couple with most of the same rights as married couples. However, Peter Dunne and Judy Turner both supported a companion Bill to give legal recognition to civil unions.
In mid-2004 United Future announced that it would contest the 2005 general election in partnership with Outdoor Recreation New Zealand. Cynics pointed out that here was another minor party that failed to reach the 5% threshold (Outdoor Recreation gained 1.28% of the vote in the 2002 election) seeking parliamentary representation via the security of Peter Dunne's electorate seat.
A month before the 2005 election, list MP Paul Adams quit the party to stand as an independent in the East Coast Bays electorate. His daughter Sharee Adams, also on the United Future List, also quit to assist her father in his campaign. After the general election, disgruntled ex-United Future MP Marc Alexander also voiced repeated criticisms of his former colleagues, in his "Marc My Words" political opinion column for Scoop, a New Zealand news website.
In the 2005 election, United Future had the support of the WIN Party, which was set up to fight the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. Win's leader, John van Buren, was United Future's candidate for Christchurch Central. This further spoke of alliances still to come. In this election, support plummeted to 2.8% and the party won only three seats. Peter Dunne retained Ohariu-Belmont, and Gordon Copeland and Judy Turner were returned on its party list.
United Future had tried to distance itself from its more assertive fundamentalist list MPs, such as Adams, Larry Baldock and Murray Smith. As Election New Zealand data revealed that the Outdoor Recreation Party still provided about 1% of the vote, 4.8% of the previous vote (possibly fundamentalist Christians) had gone elsewhere. During 2004-2005, the National Party had made renewed efforts to attract social conservative voters, through adoption of pro-life and anti-same-sex marriage voting records. United Future leader Peter Dunne, showed signs of frustration after the election results were announced.
Following the 2005 election, New Zealand First and United Future entered into a confidence and supply agreement with Labour, under which Dunne became Minister of Revenue, outside Cabinet.
In March 2006 Outdoor Recreation New Zealand split with United Future, due to a dissatisfaction with what it saw as the Christian evangelism within the party. Outdoor Recreation acting chairman Phil Hoare said, "We strongly believe in the traditional bedrock values of our nation's heritage but we also affirm the separation of church and state." [1]
United Future, like most New Zealand Parliamentary parties, was caught up in the 2005 New Zealand election funding controversy. It voted in favour of the retrospective validating legislation, which was passed through the New Zealand Parliament in October 2006.
From February to April 2007, Peter Dunne exercised his own right to a conscience vote to support Sue Bradford's private members bill against parental corporal punishment of children, while Gordon Copeland vigorously opposed it, as did Judy Turner, but on a more subtle level. [2]
On May 16, 2007, Copeland resigned from his former party due to his dissatisfaction with Dunne's support for the aforementioned private members bill, although Turner did not follow suit [3] Copeland has since indicated that he will form his own political party, Future New Zealand. Some former United Future New Zealand members have resigned in sympathy with Copeland, depriving the party of much of its former Christian supporters.
On August 13, 2007 the party unveiled a new logo which Dunne says is a revitalisation of the party before the next election. [4] The re-branding of the party was taken further on September 3, 2007 when Peter Dunne announced that United Future is rebranding itself as a sensible, moderate centre party after the break with its Christian faction. Speaking of the departure of the Christian faction Dunne stated "I think it's taken a bit of a monkey off our back, frankly." [5]
Policy
United Future adopted the following mission statement in early 2007:
"United Future is a modern centre party, focused on New Zealand's best interests. We promote strong families and vibrant communities. We seek a fair, and open society, free from poverty, ignorance and prejudice, and based on innovation, self-reliance, justice and integrity in business and personal dealings. We promote a sustainable environment, and a competitive economy which encourages growth, prosperity, ownership and opportunity through market policies where possible, and government where necessary. We want all New Zealanders, whatever their background, race or creed, to have the chance to enjoy everything that is good in our country."[6]
During 2007 the party has had a number of policy successes, including:
- Bringing about the first cut in the business tax rate in 20 years;
- Making all personal and corporate donations to charity tax deductible;
- Extending summer daylight saving hours by three weeks;
- Introducing legislation to increase the minimum driving age to 16 years;
- Leading the campaign for a code of conduct for MPs;
- Playing a leading role in getting the government to back down on planned new rules for financing elections, and proposed restrictions on births, deaths and marriages data for historical; and genealogical research purposes;
- Establishing a special government task force to look at using deer, chamois and thar as a recreational hunting resource;
- Forcing the government to fast track the abolition of the outdated law on sedition.
Former MPs
See also
References
- ^ Outdoor Recreation splits from United Future
- ^ Section 59 Crimes Act Repeal
- ^ United Future MP quits party over smacking bill
- ^ UnitedFuture unveils new logo
- ^ Dunne rebrands United Future after Christian faction split
- ^ "UnitedFuture unveils new logo". Scoop.co.nz. 13 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
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External links
- United Future New Zealand official website