Christian Heritage New Zealand
Encyclopedia
The Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand (CHP, known for a time simply as Christian Heritage New Zealand) was a New Zealand
political party espousing Christian
values. Although it never won seats in an election, it came close to doing so in 1996 as part of the Christian Coalition and briefly had a member in Parliament.
On 3 October 2006, the Party said it would disband to allow "new things to arise in Christian politics in New Zealand". This came after a highly-publicised scandal which resulted in its leader, Graham Capill
, going to jail for committing sex-crimes against young girls.
that takes the initiative in building a culture that affirms marriage
, strengthens families, and celebrates life
as a precious gift of God
. We believe these are the key issues that need to be addressed if we are to make an impact for the next generation."
It described its three key policies as "Affirming Marriage, Building Families and Celebrating Life", ie. opposition to same-sex marriage
and abortion
and support of law-and-order
.
The party espoused strongly conservative
views on social policy
. It favoured law-changes to strengthen heterosexual marriage
and to prevent same-sex marriage
and civil unions. The CHP had an anti-abortion stance, but for most of its existence, the Party supported the re-introduction into New Zealand of capital punishment
(abolished in 1989). Christian Heritage NZ supported restrictions on prostitution
, as well as mandatory standards for television
with a view to reducing violence
and pornography
.
In economic policy
Christian Heritage espoused moderately right-wing
views, and stressed that "economic policy cannot be viewed in isolation" from social matters. In education
the Party emphasised parental influence over the curriculum
and parents' rights to chose the school their child attended. The Party supported victims' rights
.
CHP supported New Zealand's constitutional monarchy
. In foreign affairs, the party supported New Zealand's alliance with Australia
and a resumption of its alliance with the United States
. From the New Zealand general election, 1999
, the CHP supported New Zealand's anti-nuclear policy, whereas beforehand it had endorsed return to the ANZUS alliance, but not necessarily the return of nuclear-armed ships.
Christian Heritage NZ claimed broad-based support from members of various Protestant
denominations and from the Roman Catholic Church, although many of its past members appeared to have held membership of the tiny Reformed Churches of New Zealand
, composed largely of conservative Calvinist
Dutch immigrants. The party had long required its members to publicly declare themselves as Christians. Some commentators criticised this rigid confessional
policy for supposedly limiting the party's base.
as the inspiration behind the formation of New Zealand's Christian Heritage Party, but other explanations may also exist. Many of the Party's founding members had Dutch ancestry and familiarity with the history of the Anti Revolutionary Party
, which functioned as an influential political party in Netherlands governments between 1888 and 1980. As well as this, many of the party's founding members belonged to the Reformed Churches of New Zealand
.
Dirk Vanderpyl noted in his book Trust and Obey (1994) that many Reformed Churches of New Zealand
members came from a narrow slice of Netherlands society, centred in Zeeland
, Veluwe
and Overijssel
. In those Netherlands provinces, the Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij (SGP or Political Reformed Party in English) had existed since 1922, and stood as a model for separatist Reformed fundamentalist political activism. The SGP differs from the Christian Heritage Party in that it restricts its membership to certain Reformed denominations, while Christian Heritage membership stood open to all evangelical
Christians, although at first many of its office-holders had some association with the Reformed Churches. However, the SGP has only ever existed as a 'testimonial party
' - which raises some intriguing questions about the role of the Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand.
Also inspired by the Christian Heritage Party of Canada
, the Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand emerged in 1989 to promote "Biblical
principles" in politics, although the party's leadership generally claimed that its policies advantaged even non-Christians. Bill van Rij founded the party and became its first President; former National Party candidate John Allen became its initial leader.
, a Reformed Churches of New Zealand
pastor
, as its leader. During the nineties, some non-Reformed evangelical Christians repeatedly complained that the CHP took too long to transcend this initial base.
Eighteen Christian Heritage candidates contested seats in the 1990 general election
. The Party did not gain any seats, but did secure over 10,000 votes across the country. In 1992 the party's candidate, Clive Thomson, finished fourth in a by-election
in the electorate of Tamaki
.
the Christian Heritage party stood 97 candidates and polled 2.02% of the overall vote, making it easily the largest party outside parliament, a position the party retained in the 1996, 1999 and 2002 general elections.
The Christian Heritage Party supported the ultimately successful campaign to change New Zealand's electoral system from first-past-the-post
to mixed-member proportional
(MMP). (New Zealand endorsed MMP in 1993 and has used the system in general elections from 1996 onwards.)
MP, Graeme Lee
, formed the Christian Democrats
(originally named the "United Progressives"). Lee had originally considered joining Christian Heritage, but eventually declined because of the party's requirement that all members declare themselves Christians.
Later, however, Christian Heritage and the Christian Democrats reached an agreement to contest the 1996 elections
together. This resulted in the formation of the Christian Coalition
, with Capill and Lee as its co-leaders. Lee held the first slot on the group's "party list", since he already had a seat in Parliament.
Shortly before the election, much speculation occurred as to whether the Christian Coalition would reach the "five percent threshold" necessary to gain proportional representation in New Zealand's MMP
electoral system. If the party gained more than five percent of the vote, it would gain entitlement to a share of parliamentary seats equivalent to its support, expected to amount to five or six MPs. Although the Coalition polled as high as 6.7% in polls before the election, in the final tally the Coalition won only 4.4% support.
".
Shortly afterwards, Bill van Rij left Christian Heritage and joined the Christian Democrats, blaming Capill for the collapse of the Coalition. A number of other senior Christian Heritage members, led by a former Deputy Leader, Geoff Hounsell, also resigned or suffered expulsion from the Party: they joined the Christian Democrats following their unsuccessful attempt to have Christian Heritage agree to a merger with the Christian Democrats.
Christian Heritage stood Ewen McQueen
as its candidate in the 1998 Taranaki-King Country by-election
. McQueen outpolled candidates for the larger New Zealand First
and Green
parties.
Six months before the 1999 elections
, Frank Grover
, leader of the Liberal Party
, a component of the Alliance
, defected to Christian Heritage, giving it one seat in Parliament. Grover had entered Parliament as an Alliance list MP. High-profile broadcaster Philip Sherry also joined the Christian Heritage Party in 1999 and stood in the number 2 position on the party list.
, Christian Heritage gained 2.4% of the vote, well short of the 5% threshold for entering Parliament, although enough to make it easily the largest party outside parliament.
, Christian Heritage had high hopes. It appointed Australian political consultant David Elliot, a prominent campaigner against Republicanism in Australia
, as its campaign-manager. Party strategists hoped that by focusing on a single electorate, Wairarapa
, CHP could gain entry to Parliament and bypass the 5% threshold-requirement. However, the result proved disappointing to supporters - the party itself gained only 1.4% of the vote, and its Wairarapa candidate, deputy-leader Merepeka Raukawa-Tait
, came third in the Wairarapa poll. Christian Heritage's support defected to United Future New Zealand, a political party which had formed from the merger of Future New Zealand
(a successor to the Christian Democrats) and Peter Dunne
's United New Zealand
Party in 2000.
Adam Owens, who had formerly had associations with the Australian Liberal Party
, volunteered to assist the CHP in the 2005 elections. However Owens did not qualify to join the Christian Heritage Party, nor did the Party ever employ him as a campaign director. Almost no party members outside Wairarapa ever met Mr Owens.
Owens volunteered to assist then CHP Deputy-Leader Merepeka Raukawa-Tait in the seat of Wairarapa
, against then-Labour sitting MP Georgina Beyer
. Beyer won a second parliamentary term in 2002, although Raukawa-Tait polled highly.
Owens began to exhibit signs of alcoholism and allegedly misused Capill's credit card for $NZ1000 worth of phone-sex calls and alcohol abuse while assisting Raukawa-Tait's election campaign. Capill and Owens acrimoniously fell out. In 2003 Raukawa-Tait ran unsuccessfully the for Masterton
District Council with initial assistance from Owens. During that campaign Raukawa-Tait and Owens acrimoniously ended their professional relationship.
Not long after the 2002 election
Capill announced his retirement as party leader and took up a job as a police prosecutor. When Capill's retirement came into effect in August 2003, the Party appointed Ewen McQueen
to replace him. The Party also re-affirmed its determination to carry on contesting elections (rather than remove itself from the list of parties and become a pressure-group). In 2003 the party adopted the name "Christian Heritage New Zealand", or CHNZ, (replacing the original "Christian Heritage Party", or CHP).
In November 2004 Graham Capill resigned from the Party, citing differences of opinion about the Party's direction.
On 1 April 2005 the court lifted name-suppression and the press revealed the man as Graham Capill.
Capill admitted the indecent assault of an eight-year-old girl on four occasions in 2001 and 2002, while he led Christian Heritage. Further charges of rape and indecent assault
against girls aged under 12 (committed during the 1990s) followed.
As Capill had strongly condemned "sexual perversion" throughout his political career, the charges had a strong impact both on Capill and on Christian Heritage, which swiftly condemned his conduct.
Newspaper-reports described Capill as "a sexual predator". Before sentencing, Capill emailed supporters asking that they pray for a light sentence and claiming the sex with one of the young girls as "consensual".
, Christian Heritage saw its support collapse even further. The party stood only seven candidates, and only won 2,821 votes (out of more than 2 million cast) or 0.2 percent. It appears that much of its support bled over to National
, United Future, and the newly-formed Destiny New Zealand
. The loss of support to Destiny proved somewhat surprising, since Destiny has its base in a Pentecostal organisation, the Destiny Church, and McQueen himself has Pentecostal affiliations.
A campaign
organised by the conservative Christian-influenced Maxim Institute
called "New Zealand Votes 2005" may have become a factor in the Party's disappointing performance in the 2005 general election. The Maxim Institute portrayed the campaign as designed to inform voters. However, some commentators saw it as an ultimately successful attempt to persuade Christian voters not to vote for Christian Heritage New Zealand.
After the election, controversy arose when former CHNZ Policy Director Mark Munroe defended Capill in a private email, arguing that his serial paedophile offenses did not fit the "biblical definition of rape". Ewen McQueen and the CHNZ Board pressured Munroe for his resignation, which ultimately occurred.
After a prolonged period of silence, CHNZ updated its website on 10 May 2006. The details centred on the CHNZ submission to Parliament's Electoral Law Select Committee. The Party urged the reduction of MMP's five per-cent threshold for list party representation without electorate seats, and abolition of MMP's one seat/list representation rule, which allows parties that have an anchoring constituency seat to gain parliamentary representation without having to clear the five-percent threshold. However, it appears unlikely that Parliament will adopt either of these suggestions.
Party leader Ewen McQueen said shutting down would allow a new Christian party to form. He blamed Capill's conviction and disgrace for the party's demise.
", because while the party attempted to remain true to its principles, it also made rare politically-pragmatic decisions.
As noted above, the CHP may have modelled itself on a prior Dutch Reformed separatist political party, the Political Reformed Party, given the particular provincial origins of Dutch immigrant New Zealand CHP founders. On this assumption, the CHP could have consciously modelled itself on the Netherlands template of a testimonial party
. In Dutch politics, "testimonial parties" do not expect concrete political outcomes from their meagre parliamentary representation, but participate purely on "principle".
While the Dutch proportional representation
electoral system permits this due to its demographically-based nature, New Zealand's Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system has a German-style five percent threshold, which a political party must exceed in order to win parliamentary seats without the security of a constituency seat. However, the CHP has never been able to pass or circumvent the five-percent threshold on its own. One can therefore argue (retospectively) that voting for Christian Heritage New Zealand acted in effect as a "spoiled vote" reservoir for conservative Christian political ambitions, on the basis that it only ever functioned as a New Zealand "testimonial party", based on a Dutch model being used in a New Zealand political context where it would never work.
Against this, those do not see Christian Heritage as a testimonial party point out that the CHP did compromise some issues of principle in an attempt to obtain concrete political outcomes. For example the party compromised on various policies when it entered the Christian Coalition in 1996. Christian Heritage and the Christian Democrats formed the Christian Coalition in order to achieve political power for/through the Coalition. The Party also compromised on the capital punishment issue in order to gain an MP in parliament (Frank Grover) in 1998. The party also attempted to win power and prevent the spoiling of its votes by standing the high-profile Merepeka Raukawa-Tait as its Wairarapa electorate candidate (even though she did not agree with all the party's policies). Had Raukawa-Tait won her electorate, the party would have gained two Members of Parliament. While she placed highly in that contest, she did not win the electorate, however.
However, while Merepeka Raukawa-Tait did record the highest ever constituency-seat vote-count for the CHP when she stood in the Wairarapa electorate, she proved too socially liberal for the Party, and ultimately resigned as CHP Deputy-Leader. With the resignation of this high-profile mainstream public figure, the CHP reverted to its usual high dependency on the media profile of Graham Capill, its long-term leader. In addition, while Frank Grover stood for office as the CHP candidate in the Tauranga electorate, he placed lowly in subsequent election results, given the popularity of New Zealand First
leader, Winston Peters
.
These three instances suggest that while periods of political opportunism might have existed in its history, the CHP basically seemed to conform to a prescribed, confessional "testimonial party" model.
Against this, opponents of the testimonial-party theory also point out that the CHP changed its policies over the years for political reasons. They cite removal of the capital-punishment policy and changing the stance on the anti-nuclear/ANZUS issue. However, supporters of the testimonial-party argument would respond that the CHP only changed its position on nuclear issues in 1999, and abandoned its support for capital punishment in 2004, after Graham Capill had stepped down as leader. Therefore, both instances may not disprove the testimonial-party model, due to their late adoption as party policies. This late adoption suggests strong resistance to changes within entrenched confessionally-based organisational policies consistent with a testimonial-party model. When Capill and his Reformed Church associates left the party, this resistance lapsed.
The party constitution also seemed to rule out Christian Heritage acting as a purely "testimonial party". While allowing that the Party had as an objective to "promote and uphold biblical principles", the constitution went on to state that the Party had the goal to "gain seats in [P]arliament so that it can have a direct influence on legislation, policy, and the governing of New Zealand."
However, this does not preclude possible Netherlands-centred Reformed Church influences that had only had experience within a confessional, testimonial party structure, and might have subconsciously replicated the testimonial-party model in the context of New Zealand.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
political party espousing Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
values. Although it never won seats in an election, it came close to doing so in 1996 as part of the Christian Coalition and briefly had a member in Parliament.
On 3 October 2006, the Party said it would disband to allow "new things to arise in Christian politics in New Zealand". This came after a highly-publicised scandal which resulted in its leader, Graham Capill
Graham Capill
Graham John Capill is a former New Zealand Christian leader and politician. He served as the first leader of the now-defunct Christian Heritage Party, stepping down in 2003. In 2005 he was convicted of multiple sexual offences against girls under 12 years of age and sentenced to nine years...
, going to jail for committing sex-crimes against young girls.
Policies
According to Christian Heritage New Zealand's self-description, the party aimed "to provide leadershipLeadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
that takes the initiative in building a culture that affirms marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
, strengthens families, and celebrates life
Life
Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased , or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate...
as a precious gift of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
. We believe these are the key issues that need to be addressed if we are to make an impact for the next generation."
It described its three key policies as "Affirming Marriage, Building Families and Celebrating Life", ie. opposition to same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
and abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
and support of law-and-order
Law and order (politics)
In politics, law and order refers to demands for a strict criminal justice system, especially in relation to violent and property crime, through harsher criminal penalties...
.
The party espoused strongly conservative
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
views on social policy
Social policy
Social policy primarily refers to guidelines, principles, legislation and activities that affect the living conditions conducive to human welfare. Thus, social policy is that part of public policy that has to do with social issues...
. It favoured law-changes to strengthen heterosexual marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
and to prevent same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
and civil unions. The CHP had an anti-abortion stance, but for most of its existence, the Party supported the re-introduction into New Zealand of capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
(abolished in 1989). Christian Heritage NZ supported restrictions on prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, as well as mandatory standards for television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
with a view to reducing violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
and pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
.
In economic policy
Economic policy
Economic policy refers to the actions that governments take in the economic field. It covers the systems for setting interest rates and government budget as well as the labor market, national ownership, and many other areas of government interventions into the economy.Such policies are often...
Christian Heritage espoused moderately right-wing
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
views, and stressed that "economic policy cannot be viewed in isolation" from social matters. In education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
the Party emphasised parental influence over the curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
and parents' rights to chose the school their child attended. The Party supported victims' rights
Victims' Rights
-History:Victim movements in the U.S. grew in the 1970s. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan's Task Force on Victims of Crime released its Final Report. The report drew attention to the re-victimization of crime victims within the criminal justice system...
.
CHP supported New Zealand's constitutional monarchy
Monarchy in New Zealand
The monarchy of New Zealand also referred to as The Crown in Right of New Zealand, Her Majesty in Right of New Zealand, or The Queen in Right of New Zealand is the constitutional system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of the Realm of New Zealand,...
. In foreign affairs, the party supported New Zealand's alliance with Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and a resumption of its alliance with the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. From the New Zealand general election, 1999
New Zealand general election, 1999
The 1999 New Zealand general election was held on 27 November 1999 to determine the composition of the 46th New Zealand Parliament. The governing National Party, led by Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, was defeated, being replaced by a coalition of Helen Clark's Labour Party and the smaller Alliance...
, the CHP supported New Zealand's anti-nuclear policy, whereas beforehand it had endorsed return to the ANZUS alliance, but not necessarily the return of nuclear-armed ships.
Christian Heritage NZ claimed broad-based support from members of various Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
denominations and from the Roman Catholic Church, although many of its past members appeared to have held membership of the tiny Reformed Churches of New Zealand
Reformed Churches of New Zealand
Reformed Churches of New Zealand is a Reformed Christian denomination in New Zealand. The denomination is constituted of 18 member churches, the first seven of which were formed in 1953. Total membership as of 2007 stands at 3,332.-Form of doctrine:...
, composed largely of conservative Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
Dutch immigrants. The party had long required its members to publicly declare themselves as Christians. Some commentators criticised this rigid confessional
Confessionalism (religion)
Confessionalism, in a religious sense, is a belief in the importance of full and unambiguous assent to the whole of a religious teaching...
policy for supposedly limiting the party's base.
Founding
Many people see the Christian Heritage Party of CanadaChristian Heritage Party of Canada
The Christian Heritage Party of Canada, also referred to as CHP Canada, is a federal political party that advocates that Canada be governed according to Biblical principles...
as the inspiration behind the formation of New Zealand's Christian Heritage Party, but other explanations may also exist. Many of the Party's founding members had Dutch ancestry and familiarity with the history of the Anti Revolutionary Party
Anti Revolutionary Party
The Anti Revolutionary Party was a Dutch Protestant Christian democratic political party. The ARP is one of the predecessors of the Christian Democratic Appeal. After 1917 the party never received more than twenty percent of the vote.-History before 1879:The anti-revolutionary parliamentary caucus...
, which functioned as an influential political party in Netherlands governments between 1888 and 1980. As well as this, many of the party's founding members belonged to the Reformed Churches of New Zealand
Reformed Churches of New Zealand
Reformed Churches of New Zealand is a Reformed Christian denomination in New Zealand. The denomination is constituted of 18 member churches, the first seven of which were formed in 1953. Total membership as of 2007 stands at 3,332.-Form of doctrine:...
.
Dirk Vanderpyl noted in his book Trust and Obey (1994) that many Reformed Churches of New Zealand
Reformed Churches of New Zealand
Reformed Churches of New Zealand is a Reformed Christian denomination in New Zealand. The denomination is constituted of 18 member churches, the first seven of which were formed in 1953. Total membership as of 2007 stands at 3,332.-Form of doctrine:...
members came from a narrow slice of Netherlands society, centred in Zeeland
Zeeland
Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...
, Veluwe
Veluwe
The Veluwe is a forest-rich ridge of hills in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. The Veluwe features many different landscapes including woodland, heath, some small lakes and Europe's largest sand drifts....
and Overijssel
Overijssel
Overijssel is a province of the Netherlands in the central eastern part of the country. The region has a NUTS classification of NL21. The province's name means "Lands across river IJssel". The capital city of Overijssel is Zwolle and the largest city is Enschede...
. In those Netherlands provinces, the Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij (SGP or Political Reformed Party in English) had existed since 1922, and stood as a model for separatist Reformed fundamentalist political activism. The SGP differs from the Christian Heritage Party in that it restricts its membership to certain Reformed denominations, while Christian Heritage membership stood open to all evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Christians, although at first many of its office-holders had some association with the Reformed Churches. However, the SGP has only ever existed as a 'testimonial party
Testimonial party
Testimonial party is a political party that focuses on its principles, instead of adapting them to local or temporal issues in the pursuit of coalition government participation...
' - which raises some intriguing questions about the role of the Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand.
Also inspired by the Christian Heritage Party of Canada
Christian Heritage Party of Canada
The Christian Heritage Party of Canada, also referred to as CHP Canada, is a federal political party that advocates that Canada be governed according to Biblical principles...
, the Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand emerged in 1989 to promote "Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
principles" in politics, although the party's leadership generally claimed that its policies advantaged even non-Christians. Bill van Rij founded the party and became its first President; former National Party candidate John Allen became its initial leader.
1990 Election
The Party's first convention took place in 1990 and established the group's structure. In 1991 the Party confirmed Graham CapillGraham Capill
Graham John Capill is a former New Zealand Christian leader and politician. He served as the first leader of the now-defunct Christian Heritage Party, stepping down in 2003. In 2005 he was convicted of multiple sexual offences against girls under 12 years of age and sentenced to nine years...
, a Reformed Churches of New Zealand
Reformed Churches of New Zealand
Reformed Churches of New Zealand is a Reformed Christian denomination in New Zealand. The denomination is constituted of 18 member churches, the first seven of which were formed in 1953. Total membership as of 2007 stands at 3,332.-Form of doctrine:...
pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
, as its leader. During the nineties, some non-Reformed evangelical Christians repeatedly complained that the CHP took too long to transcend this initial base.
Eighteen Christian Heritage candidates contested seats in the 1990 general election
New Zealand general election, 1990
The 1990 New Zealand general election was held on 27 October to determine the composition of the 43rd New Zealand parliament. The governing Labour Party was defeated, ending its controversial two terms in office...
. The Party did not gain any seats, but did secure over 10,000 votes across the country. In 1992 the party's candidate, Clive Thomson, finished fourth in a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in the electorate of Tamaki
Tamaki (New Zealand electorate)
Tāmaki is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The electorate is named after the Tamaki River that runs immediately east of the seat...
.
1993 Election
In the 1993 electionsNew Zealand general election, 1993
The 1993 New Zealand general election was held on 6 November 1993 to determine the composition of the 44th New Zealand Parliament. It saw the governing National Party, led by Jim Bolger, win a second term in office, despite a major swing back towards the Labour Party. The new Alliance and New...
the Christian Heritage party stood 97 candidates and polled 2.02% of the overall vote, making it easily the largest party outside parliament, a position the party retained in the 1996, 1999 and 2002 general elections.
The Christian Heritage Party supported the ultimately successful campaign to change New Zealand's electoral system from first-past-the-post
Plurality voting system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
to mixed-member proportional
Mixed member proportional representation
Mixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world...
(MMP). (New Zealand endorsed MMP in 1993 and has used the system in general elections from 1996 onwards.)
The Christian Coalition and the 1996 Election
In 1994, the Christian Heritage Party gained new competition when a National PartyNew Zealand National Party
The New Zealand National Party is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties.-Policies:...
MP, Graeme Lee
Graeme Lee
Graeme Ernest Lee, MZNM, JP is a former New Zealand politician. Originally a National Party MP, he broke away to found the Christian Democrat Party.-Member of Parliament:...
, formed the Christian Democrats
Christian Democrat Party (New Zealand)
The Christian Democrat Party of New Zealand was a Christian political party established in 1995. It contested the 1996 general election as part of the Christian Coalition with the Christian Heritage Party....
(originally named the "United Progressives"). Lee had originally considered joining Christian Heritage, but eventually declined because of the party's requirement that all members declare themselves Christians.
Later, however, Christian Heritage and the Christian Democrats reached an agreement to contest the 1996 elections
New Zealand general election, 1996
The 1996 New Zealand general election was held on 12 October 1996 to determine the composition of the 45th New Zealand Parliament. It was notable for being the first election to be held under the new Mixed Member Proportional electoral system, and produced a parliament considerably more diverse...
together. This resulted in the formation of the Christian Coalition
Christian Coalition (New Zealand)
The Christian Coalition was an Evangelical Christian political party operating in New Zealand. It was an alliance of the now-defunct Christian Heritage Party and the Christian Democrats, New Zealand's two fundamentalist Christian parties...
, with Capill and Lee as its co-leaders. Lee held the first slot on the group's "party list", since he already had a seat in Parliament.
Shortly before the election, much speculation occurred as to whether the Christian Coalition would reach the "five percent threshold" necessary to gain proportional representation in New Zealand's MMP
Mixed member proportional representation
Mixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world...
electoral system. If the party gained more than five percent of the vote, it would gain entitlement to a share of parliamentary seats equivalent to its support, expected to amount to five or six MPs. Although the Coalition polled as high as 6.7% in polls before the election, in the final tally the Coalition won only 4.4% support.
History: 1997-1999
In May 1997 the Christian Coalition collapsed, with the two component parties going their separate ways. Debate continues on the causes of this breakdown. According to the Christian Heritage Party, the Christian Democrats left the alliance; but other accounts disagree (either blaming Christian Heritage or blaming both). Points of contention included the extent to which the coalition would admit non-Christians who shared compatible views - after the split, the Christian Democrats would conceal the explicitly religious nature of their party, which they eventually renamed "Future New ZealandFuture New Zealand
The Kiwi Party is a New Zealand political party formed in 2007. Briefly known as Future New Zealand, it is a breakaway from the United Future New Zealand party and seeks to carry on the tradition of Future New Zealand. The party was formed when MP Gordon Copeland left United Future after a dispute...
".
Shortly afterwards, Bill van Rij left Christian Heritage and joined the Christian Democrats, blaming Capill for the collapse of the Coalition. A number of other senior Christian Heritage members, led by a former Deputy Leader, Geoff Hounsell, also resigned or suffered expulsion from the Party: they joined the Christian Democrats following their unsuccessful attempt to have Christian Heritage agree to a merger with the Christian Democrats.
Christian Heritage stood Ewen McQueen
Ewen McQueen
Ewen McQueen is a New Zealand politician who is currently a member of the New Zealand National Party. He was the third and final leader of Christian Heritage New Zealand, a religious political party in New Zealand that is now defunct.-Early years:...
as its candidate in the 1998 Taranaki-King Country by-election
Taranaki-King Country by-election 1998
The Taranaki-King Country by-election was a by-election in the New Zealand electorate of Taranaki-King Country, a large and predominantly rural district in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It took place on 2 May 1998, and was precipitated by the resignation from parliament of sitting MP Jim...
. McQueen outpolled candidates for the larger New Zealand First
New Zealand First
New Zealand First is a political party in New Zealand that was founded in 1993, following party founder Winston Peters' resignation from the National Party in 1992...
and Green
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is a political party that has seats in the New Zealand parliament. It focuses firstly on environmentalism, arguing that all other aspects of humanity will cease to be of concern if there is no environment to sustain it...
parties.
Six months before the 1999 elections
New Zealand general election, 1999
The 1999 New Zealand general election was held on 27 November 1999 to determine the composition of the 46th New Zealand Parliament. The governing National Party, led by Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, was defeated, being replaced by a coalition of Helen Clark's Labour Party and the smaller Alliance...
, Frank Grover
Frank Grover
Frank Grover is a former New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1996 to 1999, representing first the Alliance and then the Christian Heritage Party in the House of Representatives.-The Liberals:...
, leader of the Liberal Party
New Zealand Liberal Party (1992)
The New Zealand Liberal Party founded in 1992 was a splinter group of the National Party....
, a component of the Alliance
Alliance (New Zealand political party)
The Alliance is a left-wing political party in New Zealand. It was formed in 1991, and was influential in the 1990s, but has since declined and has no representation in parliament. It suffered a major setback after Jim Anderton, the party's leader, left the party in 2002, taking several of the...
, defected to Christian Heritage, giving it one seat in Parliament. Grover had entered Parliament as an Alliance list MP. High-profile broadcaster Philip Sherry also joined the Christian Heritage Party in 1999 and stood in the number 2 position on the party list.
1999 Election
In the 1999 general electionNew Zealand general election, 1999
The 1999 New Zealand general election was held on 27 November 1999 to determine the composition of the 46th New Zealand Parliament. The governing National Party, led by Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, was defeated, being replaced by a coalition of Helen Clark's Labour Party and the smaller Alliance...
, Christian Heritage gained 2.4% of the vote, well short of the 5% threshold for entering Parliament, although enough to make it easily the largest party outside parliament.
2002 Election
In the elections of 2002New Zealand general election, 2002
The 2002 New Zealand general election was held on 27 July 2002 to determine the composition of the 47th New Zealand Parliament. It saw the reelection of Helen Clark's Labour Party government, as well as the worst-ever performance by the opposition National Party.Arguably the most controversial...
, Christian Heritage had high hopes. It appointed Australian political consultant David Elliot, a prominent campaigner against Republicanism in Australia
Republicanism in Australia
Republicanism in Australia is a movement to change Australia's status as a constitutional monarchy to a republican form of government. Such sentiments have been expressed in Australia from before federation onward to the present...
, as its campaign-manager. Party strategists hoped that by focusing on a single electorate, Wairarapa
Wairarapa
Wairarapa is a geographical region of New Zealand. It occupies the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service towns, with Masterton being the largest...
, CHP could gain entry to Parliament and bypass the 5% threshold-requirement. However, the result proved disappointing to supporters - the party itself gained only 1.4% of the vote, and its Wairarapa candidate, deputy-leader Merepeka Raukawa-Tait
Merepeka Raukawa-Tait
Merepeka Raukawa-Tait is a former chief executive of the Women's Refuge organisation of New Zealand. She also stood as a candidate for Parliament, serving briefly as deputy leader of the small Christian Heritage Party.-Early life:...
, came third in the Wairarapa poll. Christian Heritage's support defected to United Future New Zealand, a political party which had formed from the merger of Future New Zealand
Future New Zealand
The Kiwi Party is a New Zealand political party formed in 2007. Briefly known as Future New Zealand, it is a breakaway from the United Future New Zealand party and seeks to carry on the tradition of Future New Zealand. The party was formed when MP Gordon Copeland left United Future after a dispute...
(a successor to the Christian Democrats) and Peter Dunne
Peter Dunne
Peter Dunne is a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament who leads the United Future political party. He has served as a Cabinet minister in governments dominated by the centre-left Labour Party as well as by the centre-right National Party...
's United New Zealand
United New Zealand
United New Zealand was a centrist political party in New Zealand founded in 1995. It merged with the Christian-based Future New Zealand party to form the United Future New Zealand party in 2000.-History:...
Party in 2000.
Aftermath of the 2002 election
In the aftermath of the 2002 election, considerable tension existed between the party's central leadership and the Wairarapa branch. People made allegations of financial mismanagement against both sides, and Raukawa-Tait criticised Graham Capill's leadership of the party. Capill, in turn, criticised Raukawa-Tait, and rebuked her for her comments. Raukawa-Tait and the entire Wairarapa Electorate Committee eventually resigned.Adam Owens, who had formerly had associations with the Australian Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
, volunteered to assist the CHP in the 2005 elections. However Owens did not qualify to join the Christian Heritage Party, nor did the Party ever employ him as a campaign director. Almost no party members outside Wairarapa ever met Mr Owens.
Owens volunteered to assist then CHP Deputy-Leader Merepeka Raukawa-Tait in the seat of Wairarapa
Wairarapa
Wairarapa is a geographical region of New Zealand. It occupies the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service towns, with Masterton being the largest...
, against then-Labour sitting MP Georgina Beyer
Georgina Beyer
Georgina Beyer was the world's first openly transsexual mayor, as well as the world's first openly transsexual Member of Parliament, and from 27 November 1999 until 14 February 2007 was an MP for the Labour Party in New Zealand.-Early life:Georgina Bertrand was born and assigned male at birth, and...
. Beyer won a second parliamentary term in 2002, although Raukawa-Tait polled highly.
Owens began to exhibit signs of alcoholism and allegedly misused Capill's credit card for $NZ1000 worth of phone-sex calls and alcohol abuse while assisting Raukawa-Tait's election campaign. Capill and Owens acrimoniously fell out. In 2003 Raukawa-Tait ran unsuccessfully the for Masterton
Masterton
Masterton is a large town and local government district in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a region separated from Wellington by the Rimutaka ranges...
District Council with initial assistance from Owens. During that campaign Raukawa-Tait and Owens acrimoniously ended their professional relationship.
Not long after the 2002 election
New Zealand general election, 2002
The 2002 New Zealand general election was held on 27 July 2002 to determine the composition of the 47th New Zealand Parliament. It saw the reelection of Helen Clark's Labour Party government, as well as the worst-ever performance by the opposition National Party.Arguably the most controversial...
Capill announced his retirement as party leader and took up a job as a police prosecutor. When Capill's retirement came into effect in August 2003, the Party appointed Ewen McQueen
Ewen McQueen
Ewen McQueen is a New Zealand politician who is currently a member of the New Zealand National Party. He was the third and final leader of Christian Heritage New Zealand, a religious political party in New Zealand that is now defunct.-Early years:...
to replace him. The Party also re-affirmed its determination to carry on contesting elections (rather than remove itself from the list of parties and become a pressure-group). In 2003 the party adopted the name "Christian Heritage New Zealand", or CHNZ, (replacing the original "Christian Heritage Party", or CHP).
In November 2004 Graham Capill resigned from the Party, citing differences of opinion about the Party's direction.
Graham Capill rape and sexual abuse scandal
In March 2005, newspapers reported that a "prominent New Zealander" was "punched and left whimpering on the ground" outside the Christchurch High Court, where he was defending sex charges. The papers could not name the man because of a court suppression-order.On 1 April 2005 the court lifted name-suppression and the press revealed the man as Graham Capill.
Capill admitted the indecent assault of an eight-year-old girl on four occasions in 2001 and 2002, while he led Christian Heritage. Further charges of rape and indecent assault
Indecent assault
Indecent assault is an offence of aggravated assault in many jurisdictions. It is characterised as a sex crime.Indecent assault was an offence in England and Wales under sections 14 and 15 the Sexual Offences Act 1956...
against girls aged under 12 (committed during the 1990s) followed.
As Capill had strongly condemned "sexual perversion" throughout his political career, the charges had a strong impact both on Capill and on Christian Heritage, which swiftly condemned his conduct.
Newspaper-reports described Capill as "a sexual predator". Before sentencing, Capill emailed supporters asking that they pray for a light sentence and claiming the sex with one of the young girls as "consensual".
2005 Election
In the 2005 general electionsNew Zealand general election, 2005
The 2005 New Zealand general election held on 17 September 2005 determined the composition of the 48th New Zealand Parliament. No party won a majority in the unicameral House of Representatives, but the Labour Party of Prime Minister Helen Clark secured two more seats than nearest rival, the...
, Christian Heritage saw its support collapse even further. The party stood only seven candidates, and only won 2,821 votes (out of more than 2 million cast) or 0.2 percent. It appears that much of its support bled over to National
New Zealand National Party
The New Zealand National Party is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties.-Policies:...
, United Future, and the newly-formed Destiny New Zealand
Destiny New Zealand
Destiny New Zealand was a Christian political party in New Zealand centred on the charismatic/pentecostal Destiny Church. The party described itself as "centre-right". It placed a strong focus on socially conservative values and argued that the breakdown of the traditional family was a primary...
. The loss of support to Destiny proved somewhat surprising, since Destiny has its base in a Pentecostal organisation, the Destiny Church, and McQueen himself has Pentecostal affiliations.
A campaign
Political campaign
A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or referendums are decided...
organised by the conservative Christian-influenced Maxim Institute
Maxim Institute
The Maxim Institute is a research and public policy think tank based in Auckland, New Zealand. The Institute's work is oriented toward a conservative perspective on its issues of primary concern, which are now education policy, tax and welfare policy...
called "New Zealand Votes 2005" may have become a factor in the Party's disappointing performance in the 2005 general election. The Maxim Institute portrayed the campaign as designed to inform voters. However, some commentators saw it as an ultimately successful attempt to persuade Christian voters not to vote for Christian Heritage New Zealand.
After the election, controversy arose when former CHNZ Policy Director Mark Munroe defended Capill in a private email, arguing that his serial paedophile offenses did not fit the "biblical definition of rape". Ewen McQueen and the CHNZ Board pressured Munroe for his resignation, which ultimately occurred.
After a prolonged period of silence, CHNZ updated its website on 10 May 2006. The details centred on the CHNZ submission to Parliament's Electoral Law Select Committee. The Party urged the reduction of MMP's five per-cent threshold for list party representation without electorate seats, and abolition of MMP's one seat/list representation rule, which allows parties that have an anchoring constituency seat to gain parliamentary representation without having to clear the five-percent threshold. However, it appears unlikely that Parliament will adopt either of these suggestions.
Disbanding of the Party
On 3 October 2006, the Party announced that it would close down following a postal vote in which 97% of its members endorsed the move.Party leader Ewen McQueen said shutting down would allow a new Christian party to form. He blamed Capill's conviction and disgrace for the party's demise.
The "Testimonial Party" Debate
Some controversy exists over whether to describe the CHP as a "testimonial partyTestimonial party
Testimonial party is a political party that focuses on its principles, instead of adapting them to local or temporal issues in the pursuit of coalition government participation...
", because while the party attempted to remain true to its principles, it also made rare politically-pragmatic decisions.
As noted above, the CHP may have modelled itself on a prior Dutch Reformed separatist political party, the Political Reformed Party, given the particular provincial origins of Dutch immigrant New Zealand CHP founders. On this assumption, the CHP could have consciously modelled itself on the Netherlands template of a testimonial party
Testimonial party
Testimonial party is a political party that focuses on its principles, instead of adapting them to local or temporal issues in the pursuit of coalition government participation...
. In Dutch politics, "testimonial parties" do not expect concrete political outcomes from their meagre parliamentary representation, but participate purely on "principle".
While the Dutch proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
electoral system permits this due to its demographically-based nature, New Zealand's Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system has a German-style five percent threshold, which a political party must exceed in order to win parliamentary seats without the security of a constituency seat. However, the CHP has never been able to pass or circumvent the five-percent threshold on its own. One can therefore argue (retospectively) that voting for Christian Heritage New Zealand acted in effect as a "spoiled vote" reservoir for conservative Christian political ambitions, on the basis that it only ever functioned as a New Zealand "testimonial party", based on a Dutch model being used in a New Zealand political context where it would never work.
Against this, those do not see Christian Heritage as a testimonial party point out that the CHP did compromise some issues of principle in an attempt to obtain concrete political outcomes. For example the party compromised on various policies when it entered the Christian Coalition in 1996. Christian Heritage and the Christian Democrats formed the Christian Coalition in order to achieve political power for/through the Coalition. The Party also compromised on the capital punishment issue in order to gain an MP in parliament (Frank Grover) in 1998. The party also attempted to win power and prevent the spoiling of its votes by standing the high-profile Merepeka Raukawa-Tait as its Wairarapa electorate candidate (even though she did not agree with all the party's policies). Had Raukawa-Tait won her electorate, the party would have gained two Members of Parliament. While she placed highly in that contest, she did not win the electorate, however.
However, while Merepeka Raukawa-Tait did record the highest ever constituency-seat vote-count for the CHP when she stood in the Wairarapa electorate, she proved too socially liberal for the Party, and ultimately resigned as CHP Deputy-Leader. With the resignation of this high-profile mainstream public figure, the CHP reverted to its usual high dependency on the media profile of Graham Capill, its long-term leader. In addition, while Frank Grover stood for office as the CHP candidate in the Tauranga electorate, he placed lowly in subsequent election results, given the popularity of New Zealand First
New Zealand First
New Zealand First is a political party in New Zealand that was founded in 1993, following party founder Winston Peters' resignation from the National Party in 1992...
leader, Winston Peters
Winston Peters
Winston Raymond Peters is a New Zealand politician and leader of New Zealand First, a political party he founded in 1993. Peters has had a turbulent political career since entering Parliament in 1978. He served as Minister of Maori Affairs in the Bolger National Party Government before being...
.
These three instances suggest that while periods of political opportunism might have existed in its history, the CHP basically seemed to conform to a prescribed, confessional "testimonial party" model.
Against this, opponents of the testimonial-party theory also point out that the CHP changed its policies over the years for political reasons. They cite removal of the capital-punishment policy and changing the stance on the anti-nuclear/ANZUS issue. However, supporters of the testimonial-party argument would respond that the CHP only changed its position on nuclear issues in 1999, and abandoned its support for capital punishment in 2004, after Graham Capill had stepped down as leader. Therefore, both instances may not disprove the testimonial-party model, due to their late adoption as party policies. This late adoption suggests strong resistance to changes within entrenched confessionally-based organisational policies consistent with a testimonial-party model. When Capill and his Reformed Church associates left the party, this resistance lapsed.
The party constitution also seemed to rule out Christian Heritage acting as a purely "testimonial party". While allowing that the Party had as an objective to "promote and uphold biblical principles", the constitution went on to state that the Party had the goal to "gain seats in [P]arliament so that it can have a direct influence on legislation, policy, and the governing of New Zealand."
However, this does not preclude possible Netherlands-centred Reformed Church influences that had only had experience within a confessional, testimonial party structure, and might have subconsciously replicated the testimonial-party model in the context of New Zealand.