David Young & Ben Thomas, NBR

Peter Dunne basks in an endless summer

4 May 2007

Is Peter Dunne the hottest politician in New Zealand right now?

For the extent to which such a question sounds deliberately provocative, your correspondents make no apology. After all, a few months ago that claim would have sounded simply like high satire, akin to describing Jonathan Hunt as one of the 20 greatest living New Zealanders.

Yet the leader of the tiny three MP United Future party and revenue minister outside government has had a remarkable few weeks.

He was the driving force behind the government's decision to extend daylight savings by three weeks. The prime minister, of course, has her own reasons for extending summer.

It's tagged, weakly, as part of the government's climate change policy; more daylight means less electricity used in those three weeks.

Clark has summoned more hours of sunlight for the country out of the heavens – the ultimate commitment to solar energy. But it's obviously an evocation of better days at the beginning of the Clark government – New Zealand currently must seem to the prime minister like a country with seasonal affective disorder. The same housing boom which in 2005 meant a wealthy middle class now means a struggling battler class.

For Dunne, though, being a modern day Maui releasing extra sunshine pales in comparison to his later heroics helping front the compromise between National, Labour and the Greens on Sue Bradford's child discipline bill or his earlier feat marshalling United Future, Act, the Greens and the Maori Party to jointly announce their support for the repeal of sedition laws.

Dunne, in mustering the small parties, has achieved what Winston Peters said he would. He has managed to "keep the government honest" despite being a minister outside cabinet.

It has helped that Dunne has kept his oppositional instincts confined to what could be labelled administrative matters: sedition and the likes of amendments to the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Amendment Bill.*The sedition law is a great example. Although each one of the minor parties involved in a joint press conference deserves credit, Dunne was the first out of the blocks to support the Law Commission's call for the repeal of the laws.

He essentially led the "coalition of the willing," and the joint press conference was held in United's caucus room.

He also deserves credit for finally putting aside his traditional – and quite irrational – aversion to the Greens.

Dunne's media persona has always (bar a remarkable and petulant outburst at television reporters on election night) been soothingly moderate. But for all his talk of consensus and common sense he has shown an unwillingness to work with the non-major parties.

His reputation as a moderator has never been in doubt. In 2002 he did not so much "slay" the TV audience worm, as was often suggested, as lull it gently to sleep.

All these years later, in bringing together or at least fronting parties in every part of the political divide in just a fortnight, Dunne has managed to genuinely look like the "common-sense" bridge builder that his party tried to pass off in 2002.

Of course, Green MP Keith Locke had called for the laws to be repealed much earlier. But Dunne provided a sensible coordinating influence. And very little could sound more "common sense" than repealing an archaic crime against the Crown.
The other side of Dunne's political outlook – his "anti-PC-ness" – was enlisted to oppose the government's proposed changes to the Births Deaths and Marriages Registration Act.

In among a barrage of technical, administrative changes, the government also moots restricting access to birth certificates to bring the register in line with other privacy requirements.

If there was any group that could strike as Peter Dunne's natural constituency it would be the genealogists and amateur local historians opposing the bill.

Restricting access to birth certificates may not raise the same privacy-related hackles as old urban myths like report cards being refused to parents, but it plays on the same familiar themes to those who believe political correctness is still an identifiable thing and that somewhere along the way it's gone mad. Plus, the government's alternative justification for the measure, the prevention of identity theft, sounds shaky at best.
With only a few slips – and operating largely under the radar – Dunne has been a safe pair of hands as revenue minister. He's been a consistent advocate of tax reductions since 1986 (his first stint in revenue). He should be able to stake a strong claim to savings-tied tax cuts in the Budget this year.

At election time, Dunne becomes a parliamentary handbag – as the leader of a centrist party, he's the perfect accessory for a government of any persuasion.

Other than Winston Peters, he's the only politician in Parliament who can claim experience as minister in both a Labour and a National-led government.
He's a pragmatist who opposed most of Labour's measures between 1999 and 2002, then tacked left as a member of the Labour-led government of 2002-2005. And Dunne doesn't court media antagonism the way Peters does.

Occupying the safe seat of Ohariu Belmont, Dunne is all but guaranteed to return to Parliament in 2008. The only question is how many hangers-on he brings with him. Those hangers-on give Dunne voting power, but have added little to public debate.

Judy Turner is hard-working, likeable but is far from a political viper. Gordon Copeland appears to throw himself at issues with great enthusiasm. Mostly, he slides right off without leaving an impact.

But with Dunne's profile and careful way of politicking, the party can survive without more than one star.

Dunne won't be remembered for his Families Commission, odd hairstyle or Naughty MP list of politicians' parliamentary hi-jinx. He'll be remembered for understanding the importance of centrist parties in an MMP system.