New Zealand’s rainbow Parliament still has ‘a long way to go’ in terms of full representation

The New Zealand House of Representatives still has “a long way to go” when it comes to creating a more representative and diverse Parliament, says a new MP.

Green List MP Elizabeth Kerekere said New Zealand’s Parliament is still completely cisgender, meaning that each MP identifies with the gender of their birth.

“We still have a long way to go towards representing our trans, intersex and non-binary whanau,” he said.

He added that when it comes to people with lived experience in these areas, the more representation in the House, the better.

“There are many other ways we can create diversity.”

Despite the lack of non-binary members of Parliament, Kerekere said it is fantastic that New Zealand has the “strangest” Parliament in the world.

There are now 13 MPs who identify as members of the LGBTQI + community, an increase of five compared to the previous Parliament.

The new LGBTQI + MPs are Ayesha Verrall, Shanan Halbert, Glen Bennett and Tangi Utikere from the Labor Party, as well as Ricardo Menéndez and Kerekere from the Greens.

Joining Labor are Grant Robertson, Kiri Allan, Louisa Wall, Tāmati Coffey, Meka Whaitiri and Greens Jan Logie and Chlöe Swarbrick.

The 12 MPs mean that rainbow representation in the House now accounts for 11 percent of the total number of MPs, which is the highest proportion in the world.

That title was previously held by the UK, which had 7 per cent, with 45 rainbow MPs out of 650.

Louisa Wall, who has been in Parliament since 2008 and the MP responsible for the Marriage Equality Act, said she was “incredibly proud” of the size of Parliament’s rainbow community.

But, like Kerekere, he said it would be nice to have more non-binary MPs in the House.
Inside Out CEO Tabby Besley said it was wonderful to see New Zealand holding the international title of the most rainbow MPs in Parliament.

“I think for our communities many of us know that she will wave the flag as one of her top priorities, while I guess many MPs may have other portfolios or some people may not want their rainbow identity to be the main thing they talk about because they are just doing their job like other people, “he said.

“At least with her position we know that she is not going to be shy about raising these issues, so it’s very exciting.”

The president of the Professional Association for Transgender Health, Aotearoa, Jaimie Veale, hoped that greater representation of the rainbow community in Parliament would result in further progress, as it was believed that it had not been enough during the last two terms.

Veale, also a senior professor of psychology at the University of Waikato, wanted to see some recognition of rainbow rights, such as health equity, and make it easier for transgender people to have legal gender recognition that had stalled under a Prime Minister of New Zealand.

“With transgender people in mind, we are hopeful that the current composition of Parliament will better respond to our needs now.”