Gordon Copeland

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Parliament	Electorate	List Position	Party
47th (2002-2005)	(List)	2	United Future
48th (2005-2007)	(List)	3	United Future
48th (2007- )	(List; then ex-list)	-	Independent

The New Zealand politician Gordon Copeland has served as a Member of Parliament since 2002. Until 2007 he sat for the United Future New Zealand Party, having won election to the Parliament of New Zealand as a list MP in the 2002 elections. Previously, he held a number of corporate positions before working as the financial administrator for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington.

Contents 1 Early life and family 1.1 Career 2 Member of Parliament 2.1 Resignation from United Future 2.2 Flirting with Destiny 3 Political views 3.1 Social policy 3.2 Political positions 3.3 Political offices 4 References 5 Footnotes 6 External links

[edit] Early life and family

Copeland, born on 19 August 1943 in Nelson, New Zealand, married Anne and has five adult children (a daughter and four sons) and eight grandchildren. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Victoria University of Wellington and has qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

[edit] Career

Prior to entering parliament, Copeland worked for fourteen years in the oil-industry, becoming the Chief Financial Officer of BP in New Zealand. Later, he worked as a self-employed business consultant with corporate and government clients. From 1984 to 2002 he served as the Financial Administrator of the Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington.

Copeland chaired the Inter-Church Working Party on Taxation (1987 - 2002) and became a member of the Working Party on Registration, Reporting and Monitoring of Charities that led to the creation of the New Zealand Charities Commission.

He has had involvement in a wide range of ecumenical activities, and in 2000 convened "Celebrate Jesus 2000" which saw 28,000 Christians come together at Wellington's Westpac Stadium to celebrate the 2000th birthday of Jesus.

[edit] Member of Parliament

Copeland won election to Parliament at the 2002 general election, and was second on the list for United Future.

In the 2005 general election, Copeland became United Future's second list MP. Since his re-election, he has drawn the support of social conservatives for his socially conservative political views. In early December 2005, he introduced his colleague Larry Baldock's Marriage Amendment (Gender Clarification) Bill, which failed to win support. (Emulating similar Australian federal and US federal and state legislation, it sought to define marriage in New Zealand as heterosexual.) Opponents^[who?] argued that after the Court of Appeal of New Zealand had decided Quilter v Attorney General in the mid-nineties, same-sex marriage had become a moot issue in common law, and marriage itself continued as a heterosexual only institution.

Opponents^[who?] of the Bill also charged Copeland with targeting New Zealand's Civil Union Act 2004, given that Copeland's unsuccessful legislation sought to amend the Human Rights Act 1993 through removing family and marital status from its anti-discrimination sections. New Zealand's Attorney-General, Michael Cullen, a Labour MP, had rejected the Marriage Amendment (Gender Clarification) Bill on that basis.

Subsequently, Copeland protested against the establishment of a hosted website for Australian euthanasia-activist Philip Nitschke's Exit International, and approached the New Zealand Ministers of Immigration and Information Technology, as well as the New Zealand Police, seeking to frustrate Nitschke's attempts to resettle in that country. Some critics^[who?] have speculated that Copeland may try to introduce a Private Member's Bill equivalent to Australia's federal Criminal Code Amendment (Suicide Related Material Offences) Act 2005.

Copeland also wants to introduce another private member's ballot bill, designed to require women seeking abortion to undergo mandatory counselling covering both proceeding with the pregnancy and abortion prior making a decision. This bill, entitled the "Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion (Informed Consent) Bill", apparently resembles Australian Capital Territory legislation repealed several years ago. At present, women do not have to consult optional counselling services under the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act 1977. As a devout Catholic, Copeland espouses pro-life views in debates about abortion, and believes that women do not receive "relevant information" related to abortion procedures, hence the title to the Bill, as yet not drawn from the Parliamentary ballot.

However, interest-groups the Family Planning Association and Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand question the accuracy of the purported evidential basis for "informed consent" from the pro-life perspective.^{[citation needed]} Copeland recently argued against the appointment of a member to the Abortion Supervisory Committee on the grounds of a conflict of interest: the member concerned acts as a certifying consultant for abortions and at the same time performs abortions as an operating surgeon. Instead, he attempted to have a pro-life Pacific Island female doctor appointed to the Committee, but failed (68 - 31).^{[citation needed]}

Copeland criticised Sue Bradford's private member's Child Discipline Bill to outlaw parental corporal punishment of children, and had previously obtained a Queen's Counsel opinion highly critical of her bill. Sue Bradford said that the fact that Copeland did not disclose that Peter McKenzie QC (Copeland's chosen Queen's Counsel) had previously represented Christian organisations like Right to Life New Zealand and the Society for Promotion of Community Standards^[1] undermined the opinion. Peter McKenzie QC, has represented the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards (in its campaign against the film Baise-Moi and in its attempts to get anti-homosexuality videos into schools) and other groups like the pro-life campaigners Right to Life. Bradford said that she preferred to listen to former New Zealand Labour Party Prime Minister, law-professor, recent^{[citation needed]} donor^{[citation needed]} to the Labour Party, Judge ad hoc on the International Court of Justice, and current New Zealand Law Commission president Sir Geoffrey Palmer's legal advice:

"I prefer the expert legal consideration given to my bill during the select committee process by the Law Commission experts, that included Sir Geoffrey Palmer."^{[citation needed]}

However, others^[who?] have argued that Peter McKenzie QC's previous clients have nothing to do with the quality of his legal opinion or with the correctness (or not) of the legal opinion.

[edit] Resignation from United Future

On May 16, 2007, Copeland resigned from his former political party after its leader, Peter Dunne, had consistently voted for Sue Bradford's Child Discipline Bill which removed the defense of "reasonable force" related to parental corporal punishment of children. Copeland announced that he would form a separate Future New Zealand party with ex-United Future List MP Larry Baldock.^[2]

Peter Dunne, in a televised interview^{[citation needed]} on July 3, 2007 said that Copeland's decision to quit came after a failed leadership bid in January 2007.

Copeland missed the vote for the Bill that he had quit his party over. He had his vote against the Bill recorded retrospectively by leave of the House. According to Copeland, Future New Zealand already had between sixteen to twenty members, and Larry Baldock said that forty-five former Future New Zealand party-members had attended an inaugural meeting in Tauranga.^[3] Former United Future List MP Bernie Ogilvy has become Future New Zealand party secretary, according to the website.^{[citation needed]}

As an Independent MP, Copeland can give a proxy vote to another independent or political party to cast on his behalf while absent from the House. After quitting his former party he provided the proxy vote to the governing New Zealand Labour Party. On 14 June 2007 he switched his proxy vote to the Opposition New Zealand National Party for any matters apart from confidence and supply.

On July 15 2007, on the Future New Zealand website,^[4] Copeland announced in his monthly parliamentary newsletter that Future New Zealand had reached the threshold of five hundred members required for registration as a political party under New Zealand's Electoral Act 1993. He also updated his readers on his unsuccessful attempts to install an anti-abortion Pacific Island female doctor on the Abortion Supervisory Committee, which licenses certifying consultants and compiles statistics related to abortion in New Zealand.^[5] He also defended his continued presence in Parliament after he abandoned his United Future party-list status.^[6]

[edit] Flirting with Destiny

On 17 September 2007 Copeland identified himself as the co-leader of a new Christian party to be created with the deregistration of Destiny New Zealand^[7] However, on 20 September 2007 Copeland announced that he "could not work" with Richard Lewis, and would remain an independent MP.^[8]

In October 2007 Copeland formally parted ways with the Christian party that formed out of Destiny New Zealand and said he would contest the 2008 election under the Future New Zealand banner.^[9]

On January 28, 2008, Future New Zealand changed its name to The Kiwi Party and Copeland relinquished joint leadership to Larry Baldock, announcing that he would henceforth concentrate on parliamentary matters. In 2008 he is standing for the Kiwi Party in the Rongotai electorate ^[10]

[edit] Political views

[edit] Social policy

As a Member of Parliament Gordon Copeland has said^{[citation needed]} he wants to give a central focus to the role and importance of the family in building a strong nation.

Copeland wants^[11] to develop policy which gives greater encouragement to charities and not-for-profit organisations; and a taxation-system which minimises distortions, ensuring that — through a mix of private savings and government support — New Zealanders have adequate retirement incomes.

Copeland leans towards the left in some other policy areas. For example, he has given strong support to the Working for Families package which, according to some estimates, will deliver refundable tax credits to some 360,000 families with children. He also champions "income splitting" for families with children and regular adjustments to tax thresholds.

Copeland has introduced a Bill adding private-property rights to the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. He has also advocated for lower taxes for both individuals and companies.

[edit] Political positions

Former policy positions as part of United Future New Zealand include:

• a national control-strategy for deer, chamois and pigs
• walking-access for recreational use
• a review of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003

[edit] Political offices

• Former Party Whip, United Future

• Former United Future New Zealand Spokesman on:

• • Economics and Business: Finance; Revenue; Customs; Public Trust; Economic Development; Industry & Regional Development; Industry & Regional Development; Small Business; Commerce; State Owned Enterprise; Labour & Immigration;

• • Primary Industry: Agriculture; Forestry; Fisheries; Horticulture;

• • Infrastructure: Energy; Transport; Transport Safety; Land Information; Statistics; Communications;

• • Outdoors: Tourism; Conservation; Sport and Recreation

• Member of the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee
• Member and Deputy Chair of the Commerce Select Committee

[edit] References

• Gordon Copeland: Faith That Works: Lower Hutt: Barnabas Christian Trust: 1988.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• http://www.alranz.org
• http://www.thekiwiparty.org.nz
• http://www.exitinternational.net
• http://www.right-to-life.org
• http://www.spcs.org.nz
• http://www.ves.org.nz
• http://www.voiceforlife.org.nz
• http://www.treasury.govt.nz/charities/background.asp

Persondata
NAME	Copeland, Gordon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Politician, Accountant
DATE OF BIRTH	19 August 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH	Nelson, New Zealand
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH