Posted on 09/01/2003 2:14:11 PM PDT by shaggy eel
New Zealand's center-left government has been challenged by conservatives over plans to set up a service designed to help "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender" citizens who may experience discrimination or disadvantage.
Proposals to establish a "rainbow desk" at the Ministry of Social Development came to light when a lawmaker with the small, conservative ACT party, Muriel Newman, managed to get the information released under Official Information legislation.
It says the views of the "special interest" group would be heard and taken into consideration when government ministers are given advice on social policy matters.
Newman Friday questioned the need for a "rainbow desk," pointing out that any New Zealander who feels discriminated against for any or a range of reasons - including sexual orientation - already has access to two existing, taxpayer-funded complaints bodies, including the Human Rights Commission.
As far as the policy advice aspect went, Newman said by phone from Wellington, the Ministry of Social Development already had 100 policy analysts of its own.
"Why on earth is this necessary?" Newman asked.
Newman said the likely aim was to please - and win voter support from - one small sector of the community.
"We're quite skeptical about the motives of this government when it comes to funding decisions," Newman said.
Newman also wondered whether, now that it had been brought to light, the initiative might not simply be quietly killed off.
"It could be that it was the brainchild of a small group of people," who would now choose to let it lapse, because of the unwelcome publicity.
Ministry of Social Development spokesman Michael Gibbs said Friday the plan to set up the "rainbow desk" was "government policy," tying in with its undertaking to amend any remaining laws causing discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
He said there would not be any duplication between the desk and the Human Rights Commission, which has "statutory responsibility to investigate complaints."
The desk would provide policy advice to the government on issues relating to homosexuals, and could also "have a role of talking to representative organizations" of that community.
The Labor government has been under fire in recent months for promoting what critics say are "politically correct" and anti-family social policies, such as moves to place same-sex unions on the same level as traditional marriages when it comes to parental and other rights.
A conservative think tank, the Maxim Institute, questions whether discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is an especially pressing issue in New Zealand.
It noted that, in figures available for 2001-2002, a mere two percent of complaints of discrimination received by the Human Rights Commission were on the grounds of sexual orientation.
In an opinion survey carried out by the Commission early this year, 16 percent of respondents said they thought homosexuals and lesbians were subjected to "a great deal" of discrimination in modern New Zealand society.
By contrast, the figure for people of Asian origin was 35 percent, for recent immigrants 32 percent, and for overweight people 20 percent.
Prime Minister Helen Clark's Labor Party has several openly homosexual members, including a cabinet minister and a transsexual member of parliament (MP).
It has six "Rainbow Labor" branches designed to provide a political voice for homosexuals and lesbians.
In an article following Labor's last election victory, lawmaker Tim Barnett wrote glowingly about the party's "proud history in promoting lesbian, gay and transgender rights."
"By having members of Parliament [MPs] from rainbow communities continuously for the past nine years, including the world's only transgender MP and the world's only current openly gay cabinet minister, we have ensured that our power structures include a rainbow voice," Barnett wrote.
"By being a party which has actively promoted the involvement of women at every level, creating a feminized environment for policy development, we have been unfazed by issues such as same-sex relationship recognition and the need for the school curriculum to engage with issues around sexuality," Barnett added.
"By having a leader [Clark] who has a very special understanding of our communities, and enjoys the opportunity to attend rainbow events and speak with our media, our commitment to inclusion of lesbian, gay and transgender people in human rights is constantly reaffirmed," Barnett concluded.
As a matter of interest, Tim Barnett is the Member of Parliament who introduced the recently successful Bill to legalise prostitution in New Zealand.
I dont know which is scarier, the "desk" or the Ministry..
Shag, I did a quick Google on Clark, and I see she's about 53 and apparently never married, and no kids. She's transgender?! What, er, does that entail in her case, if true?
,,, global agenda.
Democracy provides one voice or vote for each person. Such a system makes it almost impossible for those who hate America and the west to take over. They have to change the weighting of the system. They are trying to do this by giving each non-white constituency a "vote" equal to the single vote of the white/capitalist constituency.
It started by giving those who spoke for the black community a seat at the table. This has spread so that those who speak for all freaks/perverts, recognizing that they would not be invitied through the traditional process, now seek to get an equal voice. Outside the US, organized labor often has that inclusion in the process and, now, so do the Greens. Soon, the fairies, lesbos and freaks will break up and each seek to sit at the table as speak for themselves because "each has unique problems." Then, add envirnomentalists, the victims of each disease, all nationalities, and then sub-groups of all groupings for each ethnicty and nationality. The America haters invite an INFINITE number of groups to be represented at the table. The power/wealth to be diluted doesn't come from them, but from the white middle class.
The endgame is that those in America who have built something will have what they have unfairly acquired split among EVERYONE based on how those at the table decide. The endgame will look a lot like Zimbabwe with nothing worth much of anything. This NZ "desk" is simply the next step of the neocommunists taking from democracy and "giving" the stolen power to their allies.
02 September 2003 By NICK VENTER
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2645346a10,00.html
A fierce attack by Prime Minister Helen Clark on the Greens is being dismissed by her opponents as an attempt to deflect attention from her Corngate woes.
Miss Clark ended an uneasy truce with the environmental party yesterday by accusing them of colluding with National to damage her reputation.
"We get very curious alliances and I suggest to you that what binds these people together is the desire to smear the prime minister and the Government," she said.
Her comments followed ongoing criticism over the withholding of promised Corngate documents and her refusal to appear before the select committee investigating the Gisborne GM scare.
"I have nothing to offer the select committee," Miss Clark said.
"I sometimes wonder whether I am a victim of my own success as a popular and competent prime minister.
"I do not control everything. I did not run this issue."
The inquiry is becoming a significant irritation for the Government, calling into question its preparedness to police the regime that will take effect when the GM moratorium expires next month.
It is being chaired by Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons who copped the brunt of the prime minister's anger yesterday.
"I know from the feedback I've had from (Environment Minister) Marian Hobbs that she didn't feel she was subjected to a particularly robust chairing of the select committee," Miss Clark said.
There was "clearly" a close working relationship between the chairwoman of the select committee, Ms Fitzsimons, and National MP Nick Smith, she said.
Miss Clark said the inquiry had become a political exercise.
"I don't think it's about getting to the bottom of anything.
"It's about trying to stir up from the seabed, as it were, a great sandy storm to cloud issues."
Ms Fitzsimons rejected the criticism, saying she and Dr Smith had very different agendas.
"His objective in the whole thing is to damage the prime minister," she said.
"Mine is to get the facts behind what happened and make recommendations for handling such things better in the future."
If necessary, Labour and the Greens would be able to work together in the future, she said.
Dr Smith said Miss Clark was trying to deflect attention from her role in the GM scare.
"Every time someone questions the Government they get called a racist, a little creep or have their conscience questioned," he said.
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