There's a new "family" party on the political scene, the New Zealand Family Rights Protection Party, and they're aiming squarely at Pacific Island voters, with the full support of the Maori Party. Maori Party leader Tariana Turia attended the party's launch in Auckland this week, and says she's disappointed the media didn't show. "This is a party that wants to uphold family values," she says. “They aim to 'put back the morals' into families that they believe mainstream political parties are at this time undermining. The message was powerful and very strong." The new Family Rights party are already forging links with the Maori Party to win votes in the ethnic minority communities. One News reported that key members of the two parties have been talking about working together since June last year. However, the Family Party was only registered in March this year, and details about their specific policies still remain vague. Candidates will be revealed later this month. "We feel we have been taken for granted by big political parties," says party spokesman Manoo Mulitalo. "They only want our votes every three years...they don't do enough for our people."
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 14th April 2005 - 12:00pm