Collective responsiblity does not require Turia to vote for more Maori unemployment

Claims that ministerial collective responsibility stops Tariana Turia from voting against the government’s welfare reforms are a convenient fiction, Progressive Wigram MP Jim Anderton says.

“Ms Turia is ignoring the last decade of political practice within MMP agreements that allow for minority parties as coalition partners in government to agree to disagree. When I was a minister I voted against the government several times, including against a free trade deal. If it was possible to do that, then it is possible for Ms Turia to vote against welfare changes.

“If, as Ms Turia states, she has not been briefed on the welfare reforms and the Maori Party leadership has not committed to vote for them in the House, Ms Turia is under no obligation at all to vote for them. To say she has to as a minister is just not politically accurate. She is tying herself in knots by speaking out against them, but then claiming she has to vote for them anyway.

“The welfare changes won’t create any jobs, or the skills that long-term job seekers need. If Ms Turia and the Maori Party disagree with the changes, then it is possible for ministers to agree to disagree. That allows parties to support the policies they voted for, instead of abandoning their own people, as Ms Turia appears to be doing by supporting higher Maori unemployment,” Jim Anderton said.

ENDS

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