Dunne's future with Christians

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Peter Dunne has hitched his United Party with the pro-family, Christian-based Future New Zealand Party to create a coalition, United Future New Zealand.

The de facto marriage is aimed at lifting the political chances of both parties, which underperformed at last year's elections.

United, which got just 0.5 per cent of the party vote, is in Parliament only because Mr Dunne won the Wellington seat of Ohariu-Belmont. Future New Zealand chased 10 per cent of the party vote and polled 1.1 per cent.

The two parties plan to work as a coalition like the Alliance, with Mr Dunne as leader and the Future New Zealand leader, Anthony Walton, as his deputy. Both parties will retain a separate identity, although Mr Walton said they could merge eventually.

Mr Dunne, who has reinvented himself with three parties in the past six years, said yesterday that this latest party "heralded a new start in New Zealand politics."

He said people had had enough of disillusionment, political doubletalk, broken promises, character assassination and the lack of core values.

The parties share similar centre-right economic and pro-family social policies but on moral issues such as abortion they may be at odds.

Mr Dunne supports present abortion law but wants to see fewer terminations, while Future New Zealand has a "respect for life" policy.

Mr Walton said the parties were committed to strengthening the abortion law.

The coalition signing ceremony in Auckland was a case of back to the future for Mr Dunne, whose first party when he quit Labour in October 1994 was called Future New Zealand.

In June 1995, Mr Dunne merged Future New Zealand with the new United Party and became one of its seven MPs. That party has reinvented itself over the past four years and become an amalgam of minnows by incorporating the Ethnic Minority Party, Advance NZ and the Conservative Party (formerly ROC).

The present Future NZ party has a similarly chequered history. Former National MP Graeme Lee formed its predecessor, the Christian Democrats Party, in May 1995 and went into coalition with Graham Capill's Christian Heritage Party to fight the 1996 election under the Christian Coalition banner.

The coalition scored 4.3 per cent of the party vote - excruciatingly close to the 5 per cent threshold for seats in Parliament. A bitter divorce followed and early last year the Christian Democrats shed the Christian name in favour of Future New Zealand.

Mr Capill said the coalition was a bitter-sweet victory for his party, although many Christians would be disappointed that Future New Zealand had chosen to work with United instead of with Christian Heritage.