Saturday 10 September 2011

Peter Dunne - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
The Honourable
 Peter Dunne
MP

Minister of Revenue
Incumbent
Assumed office
17 October 2005
Prime Minister Helen Clark
John Key
Leader of United Future
Incumbent
Assumed office
2002
Deputy Judy Turner
Preceded by Position Established
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Ohariu
(Previously Ohariu - Belmont)
Incumbent
Assumed office
17 July 1984
Preceded by Hugh Templeton
Personal details
Born 17 March 1954 (1954-03-17) (age 57)
Christchurch, New Zealand
Political party United Future New Zealand

Peter Dunne (born 17 March 1954), a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament, leads the United Future political party. He has served as a Cabinet minister in governments dominated by the centre-left Labour Party as well as by the centre-right National Party. From 2005-2008 he held the posts of Minister of Revenue and Associate Minister of Health as a minister outside of Cabinet with the Labour-led government. After Labour suffered an election defeat in 2008 to the National Party, United Future was reduced to having Peter Dunne as its sole MP. However, in a deal between United Future and National, Dunne retained his two portfolios outside cabinet.[1]

Contents

[hide]

[edit] Early life and family

Peter Dunne was born in Christchurch. He gained an MA in political science from Canterbury University before studying business administration at Massey University. He worked for the Department of Trade and Industry from 1977 to 1978 and then for the Alcoholic Liquor Advisory Council until 1984. He served as Deputy Chief Executive of the Council from 1980 onwards. He and his wife have two sons.

[edit] Member of Parliament

[edit] Labour MP

In the 1984 elections, Dunne successfully stood for Parliament, winning the seat of Ohariu as a candidate of the Labour Party, defeating National MP Hugh Templeton. Bob Jones, leader of the New Zealand Party (not to be confused with New Zealand First) also stood in the seat, splitting the National vote, and ensuring a Labour victory in the seat. He held that seat in the 1987 elections, after which he became a Parliamentary Undersecretary. Later, in 1990, he became Minister of Regional Development, Associate Minister for the Environment, and Associate Minister of Justice. He retained his seat again in the 1990 elections, but the Labour government suffered defeat, and Dunne lost his ministerial posts.

In the 1993 elections, Dunne won the seat of Onslow, which covered much the same area as his former Ohariu seat. He found himself, however, increasingly at odds with the majority of the Labour Party – Dunne tended to support Labour's right-leaning faction rather than the party's more unionist wing. With the departure of leading right-wingers like Roger Douglas, Richard Prebble and David Caygill he found himself isolated. In October 1994 Dunne resigned from the Labour Party, becoming an independent. A short time later, he established the Future New Zealand party (not to be confused with a later party of the same name).

[edit] United New Zealand Party

In 1995, however, a group of MPs from both Labour and National decided to band together and form a new centrist party. Dunne, who had already quit his party in a similar way, decided to join the larger group. Together, the defectors and Dunne established the United New Zealand party, with a total of seven MPs, led by Clive Matthewson. United eventually established a coalition with the National Party, with the deal seeing Dunne return to Cabinet as Minister of Internal Affairs and Inland Revenue. See [1]

The 1996 elections, however, saw United almost completely wiped out – Dunne, by virtue of his personal support, won the newly-formed seat of Ohariu-Belmont, but all other United MPs suffered defeat. As the sole surviving United member in the House, Dunne became the party's leader. Towards the end of the parliamentary term, Dunne became part of a varied assortment of minor parties and independents who kept the National Party government in office after its coalition with New Zealand First collapsed in August 1998. Dunne re-won his seat in the 1999 elections. In this contest, the National Party put up no candidate in his electorate.

[edit] United Future New Zealand Party

Parliament of New Zealand
Years Term Electorate List Party
1984–1987 41st Ohariu Labour
1987–1990 42nd Ohariu Labour
1990–1993 43rd Ohariu Labour
1993–1994 44th Onslow Labour
1995–1995 Changed allegiance to: Future NZ
1995–1996 Changed allegiance to: United NZ
1996–1999 45th Ohariu-Belmont 3 United NZ
1999–2002 46th Ohariu-Belmont 1 United NZ
2002–2005 47th Ohariu-Belmont 1 United Future
2005–2008 48th Ohariu-Belmont 1 United Future
2008–present 49th Ōhariu 1 United Future

Shortly before the 2002 elections, Dunne's United merged with the Future New Zealand party (not to be confused with Dunne's own earlier party of the same name). Dunne remained leader of the new group, called United Future New Zealand. In the 2002 elections, Dunne retained his seat despite challenges from both major parties. Mostly as a result of a strong performance by Dunne in a televised political debate, United Future surged unexpectedly in support, winning 6.69% of the nationwide party vote. In Parliament, United Future came to an agreement to support the governing Labour Party, although the two parties did not enter into a formal coalition arrangement. Dunne remained United Future's leader.

[edit] United Future New Zealand working with Outdoor Recreation

United Future, like other minor political parties working in coalition, suffered in the polls. The United Future entered an agreement to work formally with the Outdoor Recreation Party, a registered political party formed to represent the views of hunters, fishers, trampers and recreational users of the marine and natural environment.

Dunne retained his seat in the 2005 general election but his party's proportion of the nationwide vote diminished considerably, with a corresponding loss of seats in Parliament.

[edit] Fifth Labour Government

On 17 October 2005 Dunne gave his support to a new Labour-led Government, with the support of Winston Peters’ New Zealand First Party and Jim Anderton’s Progressive Party.

Dunne’s decision to support a Labour-led Government disappointed some. During the election campaign Dunne and National Leader Don Brash publicly sat outside an Epsom café over a cup of tea as a demonstration to the electorate that Dunne could co-operate with the National Party. This demonstration saw the majority of National supporters in Ohariu-Belmont combine with United Future and other Dunne-supporters to return Peter Dunne with a comfortable majority. National won the party vote in his seat by 3.57 percentage points over Labour. Dunne's party received 5.55% ,while the Green Party, which Dunne had criticised heavily in the campaign, received 5.84%.

Dunne's decision to work with Winston Peters also couterpointed Dunne's previous comments about Peters' reliability. In one well-publicised press release Dunne reworded one of Peters’ well-publicised campaign phrases by saying "Can we trust him? No, we can’t!"

Don Brash expressed a lack of amusement with Dunne's decision to support a Labour-led coalition government. Brash expressed astonishment at Dunne accepting the important ministerial portfolio of Revenue while remaining outside Cabinet. Asked if he considered Mr Dunne guilty of dirty dealing, Dr Brash said he would not use those words. Representatives of business, however, welcomed the appointment.

After the New Zealand general election, 2005, United Future retained only two list Members of Parliament, Judy Turner and Gordon Copeland. Copeland left the party in May 2007 to re-form the Future New Zealand Party, after opposing Dunne over Sue Bradford's private members bill against parental corporal punishment of children. After Copeland's departure, Judy Turner remained the only United Future List MP in Parliament.

[edit] Fifth National Government

United Future's share of the party vote declined further in the 2008 election, to less than one percent.[2] However Dunne retained his electorate. The National Party won most seats overall and formed a minority government with support from Dunne, the Maori Party and Act New Zealand. Dunne retained his position of Minister of Revenue and also became an Associate Minister of Health. However, like Ministers from the other support parties, he remained outside Cabinet.[3]

Peter Dunne attracted attention during this term due to his decision to "plank" on a live TV programme following the deaths of a number of young people doing it in contrast to his normally sensible image. [4]

[edit] Political philosophy

 This article contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (March 2009)

Dunne sees himself as a centrist and generally describes his policies as based on moderate liberalism and common sense. His supporters promote him as sensible and reasonable. Opponents incline rather to criticise him as a right-wing conservative, pointing to his opposition to drug-law reform, his opposition to the Civil Union Act (although he did support the legislation giving legal recognition to the institution of civil unions), his support for the tobacco industry, and his party's emphasis on family values. His record in Parliament has also come under scrutiny; supporters regard his willingness to work with either side of the House as a sign of reasonableness, while critics accuse him of opportunism, and of doing deals with anyone who can offer him something.

[edit] Social views

Against this, however, Dunne consistently supported Sue Bradford's Child Discipline Act, despite aversion to other elements of the Greens' social reform agenda, like decriminalisation of marijuana. He also strongly supported the decriminalisation of homosexuality when it became an issue in the mid 1980s, and has consistently favoured more liberal drinking laws. In a 2008 interview, he suggested it may be time to review New Zealand's abortion laws and leave the decision to a woman and her doctor, based on informed consent.[5]

Since 2007, Dunne has rebranded United Future as a modern centre party, based on promoting strong families and vibrant communities. He wants United Future to become New Zealand's version of Britain's Liberal Democrats. Dunne has summarised his political views in two books, Home is Where My Heart Is (2002) and In the Centre of Things (2005).

In 2010, Dunne, as Minister of Revenue he introduced the Taxation (Income-sharing Tax Credit) Bill to Parliament in September 2010, to give effect to UnitedFuture's policy of allowing couples raising dependent children up to the age of 18 years to share their incomes for tax purposes. The Bill was referred to a select committee and was reported back to Parliament in March 2011, and is currently awaiting its second reading. In April 2011, the government announced the establishment of a statutory Game Animal Council, another UnitedFuture initiative agreed to as part of the 2008 confidence and supply agreement.

[edit] Republicanism

Dunne strongly supports New Zealand becoming a republic, and holding an early referendum on the future of New Zealand's head of state is now part of United Future's policy programme.[6] In 2004, he chaired the Constitutional Arrangements Committee. Dunne also supports the creation of a New Zealand Day and has sponsored a members' Bill on the issue.

[edit] Political works

  • Dunne, Peter (2002). Home is Where My Heart Is. Wellington, [N.Z.]: United Future New Zealand. ISBN 0-473-08433-3. 
  • Dunne, Peter (2005). In the Centre of Things. Wellington, [N.Z.]: Dunmore Press / United Future New Zealand. ISBN 1-877-39903-5. 

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikinews has related news: New Zealand girls planned "undie run" defended by politician
Parliament of New Zealand
Preceded by
Hugh Templeton		 Member of Parliament for Ohariu
1984 – 1993		 Vacant
Constituency recreated (as Ōhariu) in 2008
New constituency Member of Parliament for Onslow
1993 – 1996		 Constituency abolished
Member of Parliament for Ohariu-Belmont
1996 – 2008
Vacant
Constituency abolished (as Ohariu) in 1993
 Member of Parliament for Ōhariu
2008 –		 Incumbent
Party political offices
New political party Leader of Future New Zealand
1994 – 1995		 Party merged into United New Zealand
Preceded by
Clive Matthewson		 Leader of United New Zealand
1996 – 2000		 Party merged with Future New Zealand into United Future New Zealand
New political party Leader of United Future New Zealand
2000 –		 Incumbent
Political offices
New ministerial post Minister of Revenue
2005 –		 Incumbent
[show]v · d · eCurrent leaders of New Zealand's major political parties
[show]v · d · eUnited Future New Zealand
Party leaders

Clive Matthewson · Peter Dunne
Current MPs

Peter Dunne
Former United Future MPs
Former United MPs
Related Parties
Persondata
Name Dunne, Peter
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth 17 March 1954
Place of birth Christchurch, New Zealand
Date of death
Place of death
View page ratings
Rate this page

Trustworthy

Objective

Complete

Well-written

We will send you a confirmation e-mail. We will not share your address with anyone. (Privacy policy)

Submit ratings
Saved successfully
Your ratings have not been submitted yet

Your ratings have expired
Please reevaluate this page and submit new ratings.
An error has occured. Please try again later.
Thanks! Your ratings have been saved.
Please take a moment to complete a short survey.

Start survey Maybe later

Thanks! Your ratings have been saved.
Do you want to create an account?
An account will help you track your edits, get involved in discussions, and be a part of the community.
Create an accountorLog in Maybe later
Thanks! Your ratings have been saved.
Did you know that you can edit this page?

Edit this page Maybe later

via en.wikipedia.org

Posted by at

Flickr - projectbrainsaver

www.flickr.com
projectbrainsaver's A Point of View photoset projectbrainsaver's A Point of View photoset