Candidate Survey: Twenty-First Response

From Julie Fairey. Julie is ranked 4th on the Alliance list.

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

I would entrench the right of access for unions and the right to strike outside of bargaining. They seem like such little things, but the way I have seen bosses treat workers when they try to organise themselves makes it clear that many don’t see their employees as actual human beings. Workers need the right to have union visits to their sites, and the right to strike is too fundamental to be restricted to times when bargaining is happening, especially when most private sector workers are never in bargaining, due to still being on individual agreements.

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

Jill Ovens (Alliance), Sue Bradford (Greens), Kane O’Connell (Alliance)

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?

Sue Bradford (and Keith Locke probably) - they are Lefties who have chosen the Greens as a path forward but personally I think they belong back home in the Alliance ;-)

Do you support or oppose:

...raising the drinking age?

Oppose - I was vehemently against lowering it, but I can see now that 18 is the logical age - if you can die for your country and vote you should be able to have a beer too. I think tinkering with the drinking age is a cop-out in terms of addressing our alcohol problems - it’s about our drinking culture, not our drinking age.

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

Support. If it helps more than it harms then it should be allowed.

...decriminalising or legalising marijuana for recreational use?

Support for 18 year olds and older - we need to address it as a health issue, not just put people in prison where they don’t get help.

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

Support - it’s more important that children have loving parents than what sex they are.

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

Support - to oppose it is to support discrimination. I supported the Civil Unions Act as a stepping stone towards this, and to give another option to those who don’t want to get married but do what State recognition of their commitment.

...allowing voluntary euthanasia or physician assisted suicide?

Unsure - in theory yes but the devil is in the detail with these things.

...state funding of integrated schools?

Support with caveats around balanced teaching, ie not leaving out evolution because it doesn’t fit the character of the school. It’s still in the curriculum so it should be taught.

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

Oppose - what an archaic institution!

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

Ditto.

...further restrictions on hate speech?

Unsure - again the detail is important. I do believe that the best antidote for hate speech is more speech, but I also feel that those who deliberately incite violence towards others should be restricted, or at least culpable for any violence they cause.

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

Oppose - it’s simple natural justice to give everyone their day in court and to not prolong it unnecessarily - how would those involved in the Zaoui case feel if they were the ones being detained?

...restoring the death penalty for serious crime?

Oppose! I can’t believe anyone would seriously support this in 2005 - as long as we remember Arthur Alan Thomas I suspect it will never be considered.

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

Support. I imagine that transgender people encounter more discrimination than most as it stands, so they need some protection.

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

Oppose - it seems to me to be a hamfisted attempt to gut the RMA.

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

Support - but it would probably need some attention beforehand.

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

Support - and I fervently wish we could force the USA into it as well.

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

Support (surprise surprise) - I think the threshold should be lower - the reality we have today is that every minor party in Parliament now has split from another party. The threshold is too high for new players to break in and the advantages (media and resources in particular) of being in Parliament are just massive.

Finally,

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

You can’t just hold someone indefinitely like that - this is the kind of thing we complain about other nations doing. Freedom or fair trial was the only way to deal with it. The reality is that Zaoui is probably now one of the last people who could get away with forming any kind of terrorist plot - the SIS have said the main "danger" is to our reputation, but that is not danger enough in my book.

As usual, Julie's views are her own, and do not necessarily represent those of the Alliance.