Conservatives, conspiracists celebrate NZ First coalition agreement
The new coalition government has been welcomed by some on the extreme fringe
“Coalition agreement, it’s now in, it’s inked. You have to be happy with some of the things that have got past the line, particularly around guidelines, RSE [relationship and sexuality education] in schools. I know I have to admit my little heart went pitter-patter on that, how about you?”
That was how Maree Buscke of Reality Check Radio, the disinformation platform founded by anti-vaccine group Voices for Freedom, opened her interview with New Conservative Party leader Helen Houghton. “I'm buzzing.” Houghton responds.
“I'm still buzzing over that. The policy announcements, many of them actually things that, you know, New Conservative have been advocating for but yes especially the RSE because you know you know I have been on the show so often talking about that. You can't get the grin off my face, absolutely, and you know when I heard it. I was shocked. I was like well, this is a Christmas present. You know the moment of Joy then turned to- I actually shared some tears because it's been a long battle five years. You know, I walked out of school to fight this”
The coalition agreement between National and New Zealand First includes a section stating that the new coalition government will “Refocus the curriculum on academic achievement and not ideology, including the removal and replacement of the gender, sexuality, and relationship-based education guidelines”.
Houghton left the teaching profession to pursue a political career and a law degree, with a particular focus on opposing the teaching of LGBTQIA+ related topics in schools. She has indicated she will return to teaching following the failure of New Conservative to get into parliament, but in her Reality Check Radio interview she made clear she doesn’t see the fight against ‘gender ideology’ as over.
“It's going to be still a battle to make sure that we advocate for all educators and children and parents who still may be pushing against that in school but also for me it is making sure that we remove organisations like InsideOUT from any say and input into school policy, because that is absolutely abhorrent that they should have any control over other people's children.”
InsideOUT Kōaro is a national charity who provide resources, workshops, consulting, advocacy and support for anything concerning rainbow (LGBTQIA+) communities to schools.
“We are really concerned about the potential risks for rainbow young people in response to the repeal and replacement of the RSE guidelines.” InsideOUT Kōaro managing director Tabby Besley told me in an email.
“We know that good education about sexuality, gender and relationships is a tool for suicide prevention, bullying prevention and violence prevention. Rainbow ākonga experience significantly disproportionate mental health outcomes and this kind of education in schools goes a long way to help these young people feel affirmed in their identity, rather than isolated. In turn it supports their non-rainbow peers to grow their acceptance and understanding of diversity, which helps prevent bullying and discrimination.”
She is undeterred by the conservative opposition “InsideOUT Kōaro won't be going anywhere, we've spent the last decade working to support hundreds of schools across Aotearoa and we will continue that, regardless of who is in government, or how loud our opponents are.” At the same time however, she has observed the growing backlash against the rainbow community, “it's clear that a lot of this rhetoric is being driven by and imported here by the far-right in the US and the UK - and that it's primarily rooted in transphobia.”
Research by the Disinformation Project earlier this year found an increase in transphobia following the visit to Aotearoa of British anti-trans influencer Kelly-Jay Keen-Minshull (aka Posie Parker), with the rhetoric reaching a level they described as genocidal. The report detailed a process called ‘community bridging’ where rhetoric originating in fringe far-right spaces would spread more widely though more mainstream groups.
“Hatred and discrimination towards rainbow communities in all forms has a direct impact on the physical and mental wellbeing of rainbow people;” Besley tells me, “as a population we are significantly over-represented in statistics related to depression and self-harm, which can largely be attributed to minority stress and the constant challenges we face simply trying to be ourselves”.
“This year at InsideOUT Kōaro we've seen unprecedented levels of hate towards our work and organised campaigns against us, so there's definitely fear about what might be to come, especially under a conservative government. But we've come too far to go backwards and there are a lot of people activated to fight back and stand with our communities as required.”
Houghton wasn’t the only one exuberant at the New Zealand First coalition agreement. “Pop the Corks - the Coalition Agreement has been Signed!” was the headline from ‘Functional Nutrition Consultant’ Gary Moller. NZ First’s deal with National includes the repeal of the Therapeutic Products Act (TPA), which regulates alternative and complementary medicine. But Moller’s interest in repealing the act is not just removing regulations on the industry he’s in, according to him:
“We had to get rid of the TPA because it is the Trojan Horse for the fast-tracking of the widespread approval of dangerous gene-altering mRNA and similar technologies for plant, animal and human applications,” In the same article, he claims that “A Marxist-style revolution, executed through strategies involving the deliberate creation of conflict and confusion, including outright war, is underway targeting Western democratic societies” He then goes on to say,
“Our enemies, the Kleptoglobalists, have been working on this for many years, then three years ago, under the guise of keeping us all safe, they launched a full-scale bioweapon attack on New Zealand and the rest of the free world. It was then we began to realise that our institutions had been infiltrated by our enemies, their sycophants and their unwitting supporters.”
This is the new base for New Zealand First, a collection of conservatives and conspiracists who have returned the party to parliament, and got policies implemented in return. The coalition agreement will end all Covid-19 vaccine mandates still in operation (though few remain) and “as a matter of urgency” establish an independent inquiry into how the Covid pandemic was handled.
The relationship already appears to be straining however. “Peters’ star in fringe-right circles has flickered.” Wrote Toby Manhire in The Spinoff. “A range of figureheads, and countless commenters, who had previously sung his praises are suddenly suspicious. Many are angry.” Whether the marriage of convenience between Peters and the more extreme fringe of politics can last a full parliamentary term remains to be seen, but the use of NZ First as a way for for that fringe to directly influence government will not be without consequences.
Thanks, Byron, your work gives me hope! If the marriage of convenience between Winston Peters and his far right supporters, the conspiracy theorists, falls apart, I hope his general support will drop considerably, and then where will this government be?