After much fanfare this week when Andrew Little introduced Labour’s abortion reform bill, today Winston (the handbrake) Peters slowed down the process.
The bill has its first reading in parliament this Thursday but the handbrake said today that NZ First may call for a referendum, which will be very unwelcome news to Labour and the Greens.
But is it miscommunication or sabotage?
NZ First leader Winston Peters wouldn’t rule out calling for a referendum.
“This is on-going work and we’ll let you know on Thursday when the vote happens,” he told reporters.
“Referendums are what New Zealand First has stood for a long time when it comes to conscience issues. We don’t have to raise it earlier. Everyone who has been dealing with us knows that.”
But it was news to Little, who has been leading the reforms.
“In all the extensive discussions we’ve had it’s never been raised with me,” he said.
“It’s a bit unusual it gets raised at this point. We’ve got the bill drafted as a result of the consultations we’ve had with them. I’m proceeding what we’ve got at the moment.”
Little said he did not believe abortion was a referendum issue.
Martin, who has been speaking for NZ First on the legislation, denied the party had misled Little.
“IT Was never discussed so it wasn’t an opportunity to mislead him,” she said. “It had never been discussed with me or by the New Zealand First caucus themselves during the whole negotiations, therefore it was never raised with Andrew Little.”
Prior to this term in Government, NZ First and Martin said abortion could be a referendum issue.
It’s not the first time Little has been taken by surprise by NZ First. He also believed he had their support to repeal three-strikes criminal legislation, only to find out, at the last minute, he didn’t.
A Newspaper
Is this a case of Andrew Little ploughing ahead and assuming NZ First were in agreement without actually bothering to ask them first? Are we witnessing cracks in the CoL?