United Future

Posted at 2008-04-02 14:51:19.498. Permalink.

It is great to see women in leadership roles in United Future. Gender equality is hugely important in politics and figures show that women are still woefully under-represented in national parliaments throughout the world (average is about 9% according to some UN figures I came across!!).

I also see it as important that United Future reach out to ethnic minorities, pacific island peoples and Maori - what can we do to encourage more of these important groups within NZ to engage with and get involved with our party? What should our strategy be here?

Posted at 2008-04-02 15:02:28.725. Permalink.

Well done ladies,

I was brought up with two sisters. My two older brothers had already left home. My mother was a good educator as far as showing respect to everyone. So as I grew up, I respected a lot of women,ethnics,disabled and the elderly. I am still learning- simply because I believe that to ask a woman their opinion brings balance to the male ego. So 'chin up, be brave and crack the Hubris!' would be my motto to women. Men can be pig-headed,rude and very self centred. It is one part of me that I am thankful for not having due to my mother - that is being disrespectful to women.

There must be a call for candidates who are women and ethnic (Maori,etc) who know how to respect others.

Posted at 2008-04-02 15:05:18.163. Permalink.

PS.
to get more women and 'minorities' into UF, I suggest we ask the right people and promote more to them with the right message: "what does UF have for me as a .....?"

Posted at 2008-04-02 15:18:40.598. Permalink.

Peter has made an important point today in a press release about the projection of population figures through to 2026, as contained in the census - the Maori population (14.7%) and the Asian population (14.2%) will be almost the same by that time, yet no provision is made in MMP for any 'asian' seats - we need to ensure MMP and UF are as representative of NZ's diverse society as possible! :)

Posted at 2008-04-02 17:08:54.345. Permalink.

Yeah but he wasn't advocating to introduce Asian seats - rather that Maori seats distort proportionality and favour one race over another of similar size in the population.

Posted at 2008-04-02 18:16:58.517. Permalink.

United Future seems to stand alone as the only NZ political party not only with real "equality" with both it's men & women representatives; whether it be a lady President, lady Deputy or a lady as a past CEO & present Board member, all with significant or dual educational qualifications in the specifics of law, politics, education and people skills (these are "all successful mums" with massive life experience between them!) but United Future has some things else!

When one looks further at United Future's apparent 'present' 2005 List, with not only its gender allocation but also the demographic and regional representation by candidates United Future is truly outstanding! Here's how it appears to me without looking too far:

Peter Dunne is the leader - with Judy Turner MP the Deputy, a now proven 2 term politician as No 2!
Murray Smith, a significant lawyer from the Wellington region is No 3 - with Janet Tuck, a fantastic Auckland woman as No 4.
Graeme Reeves an ex National MP & past United Future president, also a significant Wellington based lawyer is No 5 - with Joy Lietze, also a 'woman', a great 'southern' South Island representative at No 6. These are all mature, comprehensive, Caucasian, salt of the earth kiwis! They all individually and together comprehend, they know what it means to be (and listen well to what it is and means to be) New Zealanders for New Zealanders finding the best possible options for a united future for our nation!
Suddenly the 2005 list changes? Why? It appears to reflect that more than 5/8's of the NZ population lives north of Hamilton where we find the largest, mixed, indigenous & Pacific Islander populated city in the South Pacific. So who do we see next?
Sorry it's not a lady, it's a 'Pacific Islander' as United Future's second Auckland representative bringing a real demographic significance to how and what United Future seems to see as important representation. And just in case any body reading my comment thinks that United Future is too over blessed with women of significance as an extremely well balanced N.Z political party we find 2 blokey, blokes from Auckland. I guess that's an intelligent attempt to give that northern massive population base a fair hand up by great men who parliament is usually overly dominated by (usually power hungry types though) - but not these 2 amazing, altruistic types United Future has attracted.

What a challenging, formidable, intelligent caring group of women matched with 'equals' carrying the other gene set United Future espouses as it's 'present' 2005 front line. Not just full of old dead wood or new hopefuls, not just picture post card perfect as some would have their parties - but Nice!

Posted at 2008-04-02 19:51:15.936. Permalink.

"Yeah but he wasn't advocating to introduce Asian seats - rather that Maori seats distort proportionality and favour one race over another of similar size in the population."

You are right Raza.. and I think this emphasises the need for all political parties to ensure that the candidates they pick represent a cross section of the population.

Posted at 2008-04-02 21:54:55.387. Permalink.

might be nice to add neville wilson to the blog...using McInnes' reference above he is our 2005 7th placed list candidate and fijian by origin...

Posted at 2008-04-02 22:04:53.863. Permalink.

Yes, the Pacific Islander mentioned at No 7 is Nev Wilson. I didn't add or attach names or specific races 'to the guys' after no 6 as I didn't want to steal '"the ladies thunder which they so deserve!!!'"

I also failed, I made a big oversight not mentioning what a comprehensive, inspiring MP Murray Smith had been in the 2002 term for United Future and the likes of Vice President since!

The only suggestion I might make is 'more' representation in Auckland.
Why? If Auckland holds more than 1/4 of the population, up to 1/3 dependant upon where one measures from and to, and if one considers north of Hamilton its over 5/8's the population and has been for a long time then an MMP party has a challenge to give the public at least some proportionate population based representation.

Posted at 2008-04-03 07:22:49.952. Permalink.

Oops!

Silly me! I didn't get to see the party list and so must apologise for the lack of good research!

McInnes listing of who's on the list is truly a good mix.

Posted at 2008-04-03 10:44:24.423. Permalink.

back to the ethnic representation topic....have you seen Peter's statement today?

Here's an excerpt: UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne says he�s appalled at the racist attitude of New Zealand First deputy leader Peter Brown towards Asian immigration and says it�s now clear that UnitedFuture is the only centrist party that stands up for a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic New Zealand.

�UnitedFuture�s consistent message for years is that we welcome talented, skilled, hard-working people of all cultures to our shores; we don�t chop and change according to the shifting electoral winds...

I will post a link to it when its up on our site

Posted at 2008-04-03 10:44:25.508. Permalink.

A lesson from Fiji: The current governance crisis in Fiji was created when the initial constitution allocated Parliamentary seats on the basis of ethnicity.
I am all for the encouraging participation in national politics among every ethnic group but am totally against allocation of seats according to ethnicity. There was a season in which it was good to have the Maori seats, that season is drawing to its end and we must prepare to move on. The United Future policy covering this is spot on.

Posted at 2008-04-03 12:04:01.85. Permalink.

nice post Neville. I believe it would signal a definite shift from the rookie phase to the maturing phase for the Maori party to enter into the rabble of the general seats. They could feel very confident about getting enough party votes to cross the 5% threshold if that was the option that Maori voters were counting on. Given that they are approx. 12% of the make-up of NZ now...you do the math.

Here is the link to Peter's statement on racist comments coming from NZ Frist:
Peter on multi-ethnic NZ