Dunne Tells UnitedFuture to “Go Back to Basics”

UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne says the Party needs to “go back to basics” and “focus afresh” on its core principles, if it is to regain voters’ trust and support.

Addressing UnitedFuture’s Board meeting to begin reviewing the election result, Mr Dunne said that while he was pleased to retain his Ohariu seat – albeit by a smaller margin than he would have liked or expected – the Party’s 0.2% party vote result was “downright embarrassing.”

“We had been seriously aiming to gain, at the least, a second MP but fell well short of that target,” he said.

Mr Dunne said UnitedFuture now had to reassert itself as a modern liberal democratic party, promoting a genuinely environmentally friendly sustainable society where people were allowed to get on with their lives, where no one is enslaved by poverty or ignorance, and where every child has the best possible start in life.

‘We believe and have to be seen to stand up for people’s rights to enjoy all the good things about New Zealand:

• A diverse, open, tolerant and growing society;
• The best health and education systems in the world;
• The right to enjoy and have access to our rivers, lakes, forests and mountains;
• A positive vision for New Zealand’s future as a free and independent country.
“Too often, our broad message has seemed too narrowly focused and therefore not relevant to people’s lives,” he said.

Mr Dunne said that although UnitedFuture showed during the election campaign it has a raft of well-developed and innovative policies – “we were the only party to produce a full manifesto, and to release a different policy each day of the campaign” – it failed to sell them to voters in an integrated way, or show how the issues we were concerned about really mattered.

“We do not need to refine or modify policy – we need to sell it to people as part of an overall vision that relates to their daily lives,” he said.

Mr Dunne said there was a substantial group of voters who agreed with UnitedFuture’s core messages, but obviously did not see it as a viable voting option.

“Our membership is still healthy – it has actually been growing since the election, but we need more young activists and people on the ground to take our message forward,” he said.

Mr Dunne said many pre-election voter information websites showed that UnitedFuture’s values ranked highly with voters.

“That is a huge positive but too many were surprised by that, and dismissed voting for us accordingly as a result.

“Our challenge is to reach out to them and persuade them that they can cast a credible vote for us in the future,” he said.

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