United Future New Zealand
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Current United Future logo
United Future New Zealand is a political party in the New Zealand parliament with three MPs -- one electorate MP (leader Peter Dunne) and two list MPs (see MMP for the difference). It currently has an agreement to support the Labour-Progressive coalition government in matters of confidence and supply. Generally, it is fair to say that United Future is a Christian centre-right party favouring capitalism over socialism.
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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. Indeed, many of United Future's policies closely resemble 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 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.
Recent activity
United Future in its family law reform proposals takes 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 are 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 recently, also vigorously but in vain, opposed a Bill that would enable civil unions. The Bill, now law, grants same-sex couples (and also mixed-sex couples who choose not to marry) many of the same rights as married couples.
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, the New Zealand online 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-gay 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 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.
Policy
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- United Future supports recognition of Taiwan, as opposed to China, the only Parliamentary party in New Zealand to do so. [2]
Former MPs
See also
External links
- United Future New Zealand official website
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