The National Party is furious at suggestions of a link between themselves and the Destiny Church following pictures of National leader Don Brash seated next to anti-gay Destiny leader Brian Tamaki at Waitangi on Sunday. Within minutes of GayNZ.com placing a call to Don Brash's office at Parliament to enquire about National's stance on Destiny policies, an angry press secretary called back demanding to know what "Labour Party nonsense you were running". GayNZ.com asked whether National would entertain the possibility of a coalition with Destiny New Zealand, and what National's policy is on the separation of church and state, to which we were told that we should be asking the same questions of Prime Minister Helen Clark's office. An official response was provided to emailed questions a few hours later, prefaced by a comment that our enquiries were "very wide of the mark". No political discussions took place between Tamaki and Dr Brash, we were told. "The National Party has absolutely no intention of wasting time reviewing the policies of Destiny New Zealand," said the spokesman, who would not be named. "It is a minor movement that has no Parliamentary representation and on current polling it appears unlikely to gain any. The National Party is focussed on promoting its own policies for a better New Zealand." GayNZ.com also asked whether it was fair for a religious organisation like Destiny, which enjoys tax-exempt charity status, to move clearly and unambiguously into the political arena, as Destiny have, while still retaining all the privileges of a charity. "The National Party unequivocally supports the principle of separation between church and state," was the response. "We are a mainstream political party with MPs from a range of religious, personal and cultural backgrounds. The National Party does not and will not lend its support to any particular religious movement."
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 9th February 2005 - 12:00pm