Labour has made the best of a difficult post-election situation by going into coalition with two socially conservative minor parties, says MP Tim Barnett. Labour's slim 61-seat majority in the new Parliament is being propped up by ten votes from NZ First and Christian party United Future, both outspoken in their opposition to equal civil rights for same-sex couples. However, Barnett says he's doesn't believe there's any risk of civil rights advances like the Civil Union Act being reversed, and that the glbt community is infinitely better off with the two parties aligning themselves with Labour rather than National, an arrangement which came close to being pulled off. “The middle parties will negotiate around the areas where they think the big party they're negotiating with is likely to give way, and there's every sign that National would have been prepared to negotiate on some of these issues,” Barnett says. “They were talking about amendments to civil unions, they've spoken about weakening the Human Rights Act, all those issues would have been on the agenda. I think we are infinitely better protected under this arrangement.” Barnett doesn't know if United Future or NZ First discussed policy concessions that would have affected the glbt community in coalition negotiations, but he can confirm that nothing of the kind has surfaced in Labour's formal coalition agreement with both parties.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 19th October 2005 - 12:00pm