For immediate release

Monday, 3 May 2004

United Future abstains from Te Tai Hauauru sideshow

The board of the United Future party decided at its meeting in Wellington today not to stand a candidate in the upcoming by-election in Te Tai Hauauru.

Party leader Peter Dunne said the by-election would be an unnecessary and expensive piece of nonsense forced upon the country by the failure of Labour’s leadership to sell its own legislation to its own supporters; and by the devious dithering of an MP who wished to push the Maori sovereignty ambitions of her small band of supporters.

“Quite frankly, the country’s sick of the silly antics of Mrs Turia, who apparently can’t make her own mind up about lying down in the back seat of a car and has to rely on Prime Ministerial advice.

“Now she’s talking up the prospects of a Maori-based party, which will apparently campaign for a separate Maori political system.

“There’s a name for that sort of system and the name is apartheid – a political system that New Zealand and the rest of the civilised world rejected years ago.

“The names of Maori politicians who achieved real progress for their people include Ngata, Carroll, Buck and Tirikatene – all of whom worked within the current political system.

“The chances of the name of Turia being added to that distinguished list are zero,” concluded Mr Dunne.

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