PRESS STATEMENT

Ian Anderson
Representative for MP Taito Phillip Field
New Christian Vehicle

20-09-07

As a representative for MP Taito Phillip Field to the National Advisory Council (NAC) of the newly formed Christian political vehicle, I am extremely disappointed at Gordon Copeland’s announcement this morning that he has withdrawn from the co-leadership with Richard Lewis.

The process towards a single vehicle has involved some major ‘unanimous’ decisions between the Advisory Council members and the politicians, including Gordon Copeland, Larry Baldock, Richard Lewis, Taito Phillip Field and Paul Adams.

Those decisions were, that there would be a brand new political vehicle, a co-leadership between Gordon Copeland and Richard Lewis and the de-registration of the Destiny political party.

I attended Destiny New Zealand’s de-registration announcement.

Having been involved in the process and witnessed the agreements leading up to this, Bishop Tamaki and Richard Lewis handled the announcements openly and honestly. Their decision to disclose their respective roles in the new vehicle was a matter of openness to the public and in doing so they were careful not to reveal the others involved. I understand that was requested by Copeland and Baldock.

Gordon’s initial response to the media, which involved an outright denial of his involvement followed by an admission, staggered me. Destiny’s de-registration was the outcome of a 3-4 month process that Gordon was heavily involved in.

Throughout this process the single most important factor was to be united, to which Destiny New Zealand agreed to by de-registering their party. To this end, Pacific supporters of Taito Phillip Field have held back from registering a Pacific Party and signing up members as a commitment to this agreement. Future New Zealand on the other hand has not showed the same commitment, which is reflected in their actions over recent days. Hence, I am not surprised to read their most recent press statement to launch Future New Zealand.

Based on this most recent development, I have to question whether Gordon Copeland ever intended to follow through with the agreements but rather, just wanted the Destiny Party off the radar.

As the Pacific representative to this new vehicle, I do not support Gordon Copeland’s announcement to launch Future NZ.

ENDS

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