Uncrossing our fingers

With the Civil Union Bill reportedly coming before Parliament again next week, it's time for us all to (as Jordan said) uncross our fingers and start lobbying MPs. The easiest method is email, so I've included email addresses below; however if you can lobby directly through an MP's electorate office, so much the better.

Based on the Campaign For Civil Unions' page on how MPs voted, I've picked out the following targets for extra-hard work:

National, ACT, and NZFirst MPs who voted for the bill and whose support needs to be shored up:

• Brian Donnelly (List) Ron Mark (List)
• Gerrard Eckhoff (List)
• Stephen Franks (List)
• Rodney Hide (List)
• Richard Prebble (List)
• Heather Roy (List)
• Ken Shirley (List)
• Don Brash (List)
• Katherine Rich (List)
• Clem Simich (Tamaki)
• Lockwood Smith (Rodney)
• Pansy Wong (List)

The support of these MPs will be critical to getting the bill over the 61 vote mark - and some may have voted for it solely to get it to committee. Try thanking them for their support, and (for ACT), appealing to the principles supposedly underlying their party.

Absentees:

• Ashraf Choudhary (List)
• Luamanuvao Winnie Laban (Mana)
• Janet Mackey (East Coast)

These MPs have since voted for the Omnibus Bill, so they're probably nominally sympathetic - but they need reminding anyway.

MPs who voted for the Omnibus Bill but not the CUB:

• Gordon Copeland (List)
• Peter Dunne (Ohariu - Belmont)
• Judy Turner (List)
• John Key (Hellensville)
• Wayne Mapp (North Shore)
• Georgina te Heuheu (List)
• Murray McCully (East Coast Bays)
• Roger Sowry (List)
• Maurice Williamson (Pakuranga)

Their votes for the Omnibus Bill likewise make them at least somewhat sympathetic, so they may be able to be "flipped".

Regressive Labour MPs, who need to be reminded of what Labour is supposed to stand for:

• Clayton Cosgrove (Waimakiriri)
• Harry Duynhoven (New Plymouth)
• Taito Phillip Field (Mangere)
• Damien O'Connor (West Coast-Tasman)
• Paul Swain (Rimutaka)
• John Tamihere (Tamaki Makaurau)

Frankly, these people need to be bullied. The best way to do it is by directly threatening to vote for a party with a better record on human rights. This is obviously more powerful if you live in their electorate, but threatening the party vote is not without weight. Make it clear that their vote is costing their party support.

The Unknowns:

• Tariana Turia (Te Tai Hauauru)
• Kenneth Wang (List)

There's no vote recorded for Turia, and Wang is new so no-one knows what he thinks. Time to find out.

Unfortunately, there's one area I don't know about: Labour MPs who may be wavering. If you have any rumours in this area, I'd love to hear them.

(If you'd like to save time, the Voter's Voice website has a script for mass-mailing MPs. Unfortunately, it will tag an ad for them at the bottom of every message (See correction))

Obviously, the more MPs you can lobby, the better, but if you can contact even one, please do so. Every message of support for this bill counts, and weneed to let those who may be wavering know that we want them to stand up for equality, freedom and fairness and pass the Civil Union Bill.

Update: Corrected Stephen Franks' and Pansy Wong's email addresses; it seems Parliamentary Services' information is a little out-of-date...

Update (30/11/04): Fixed Heather Roy as well. Also, added Ron Mark, who I seem to have forgotten for some reason.