Senior Labour MP Grant Robertson Rainbow Labour will continue its push for inequalities in current legislation to be highlighted and updated as part of its election campaign. Sitting MPs Grant Robertson, Maryan Street and Louisa Wall met with glbti party members during the Labour Party's congress in Wellington over the weekend. Charles Chauvel was unable to make the meeting as he was overseas. The gathering of about 25 people discussed the Rainbow Labour 2011 election campaign, resources and policy issues. While the official policies are yet to be officially released, Robertson says they will be about tying up loose ends in legislation. "The last two policies we've put out have been around the ongoing questions of discrimination within legislation," he says. "And there are some outstanding matters there we've talked about previously, in terms of adoption and so on. So we'll continue to talk about that. We'll have some stuff around safety in schools and for young people, which has been a particular focus in the last couple of manifestos, and also around health issues too. It will follow that kind of pattern." While he, Street and Chauvel are on the front bench for the opposition and have major portfolios which keep them busy, Robertson says they remain passionate about glbt issues. He says it has been great to have Wall in Parliament for the past few weeks, saying she is very focused on winning the Manurewa electorate. He says one of the things that really struck him at the Rainbow Sector Council meeting was how much its members are involved at all levels of the party. "We've got campaign managers for candidates and we've got people who are on the Youth Council. To me it's exactly how it should be. Most people join the Labour Party not because they're gay, but because they believe in what the Labour Party stands for. But they're also part of Rainbow Labour, and that's great."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 24th May 2011 - 1:05pm