Candidate Survey: Eighteenth Response

From Mike Heine. Mike is ranked 38th on the ACT party list.

If you could ensure the passage of one act on one issue in the next Parliament, what would it be?

Tax cuts for all workers, and a substantial flattening of the tax system.

What three other electoral candidates or sitting MPs do you think are most similar to you in their political views?

Muriel Newman - for her views on welfare reform and family values
Rodney Hide - constant crusader for lower taxes and against Government waste
Gerry Eckhoff - travelling with him during the 1999 election helped me appreciate just how important farming is, and no MP has been a better advocate for farmers than Gerry.

MMP is about coalitions: What sitting MP who is NOT in your party do you think is most similar to you in their political views?

Don Brash - I seriously doubt he would have had to perform so many backflips had he joined ACT instead of National.

Do you support or oppose:

...raising the drinking age?

Lowering the age has made it easier for people as young as 12 and 13 to gain access to alcohol. In principle 18 year olds should have the right to drink, but a lot of them have yet to earn this privilege.

...legalising marijuana (or pharmaceuticals based on it) for medical use?

Am currently unsure on this issue.

...decriminalising or legalising marijuana for recreational use?

I am opposed to legalisation, I have seen the effect of marijuana on some of my friends and I believe making it legal sends the wrong message. Decriminalising it however is a sensible alternative - it would help free up police resources while still acting as a deterrent.

...allowing same-sex couples to adopt children?

Unsure... the traditional nuclear family is the best model for bringing up children, but of course there are exceptions, and no doubt there are same-sex couples that would do a good job. It is an issue that I will have to investigate more.

...amending the Marriage Act to allow same-sex couples to marry?

Opposed. Civil unions exist to give same-sex couples the legal rights of marriage (as created by the state) without infringing on what is a ceremony with strong Christian roots.

...allowing voluntary euthanasia or physician assisted suicide?

Unsure... I am leaning towards favouring, but only with strong safeguards, and only for people who are terminally ill.

...state funding of integrated schools?

I strongly support the Government giving all families the right to choose between state, private and integrated schools, preferably via a voucher system where the child, rather than the school, receives the funding.

...the retention of sedition as a crime in the Crimes Act?

Opposed.

...the retention of blasphemous libel as a crime in the Crimes Act?

Opposed.

...further restrictions on hate speech?

Strongly opposed. Political correctness is rampant enough without entrenching the censorship associated with this in law.

...the use of indefinite detention without trial for those subject to a security risk certificate?

Opposed.

...restoring the death penalty for serious crime?

Opposed. Aside from the possibility of killing someone who was innocent, you do not avenge one's death by also taking someone's life.

...Georgina Beyer's Human Rights (Gender Identity) Amendment Bill?

Opposed.

...Gordon Copeland's New Zealand Bill of Rights (Private Property Rights) Amendment Bill?

Support. I am strongly in favour of any law that protects property rights.

...entrenching the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act as supreme law?

Opposed.

...New Zealand's participation in the International Criminal Court?

Support.

...lowering MMP's threshold from the present 5%?

Support. Definitely no lower than 4% however. If this is lowered, we should also look at getting rid of the strange provision that allows parties below the threshold extra MPs if one of them wins an electorate seat. Unless someone can explain to me the logic behind this?

Finally,

With the benefit of hindsight, how should the government have handled the Ahmed Zaoui case?

If there was evidence that he was a terrorist or had terrorist links, there should have been a fair trial and it should have been done a long time ago.

As usual, Mike's opinions are his own, and do not necessarily represent those of ACT.