Graeme Ernest Lee (born 1 September 1935) is a former New Zealand politician. Originally a National Party MP, he broke away to found the

Christian Democrat Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

Early life and family

Lee was born in

Paeroa Paeroa is a town in the Hauraki District of the Waikato Region in the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula, it is close to the junction of the Waihou River and Ohinemuri River, and is approximately 20 k ...

on 1 September 1935, the son of Ernest Walter Lee and Muriel Myrtle Lee (née Weight). His father was a builder, and later served as mayor of Paeroa from 1959.

Member of Parliament

Lee was first elected to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in the 1981 election, winning the seat of

Hauraki Hauraki is a suburb located on the southern North Shore of Auckland, the largest metropolitan city in New Zealand. It is under the local governance of the Auckland Council. History The traditional name for the western coastline in Hauraki wa ...

as the

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

candidate. Lee replaced Leo Schultz, a prominent National MP. He retained his seat from then until the 1996 election, although a change of electoral boundaries resulted in the seat which covered the Thames-Coromandel district being renamed

Coromandel Coromandel may refer to: Places India *Coromandel Coast, India **Presidency of Coromandel and Bengal Settlements ** Dutch Coromandel *Coromandel, KGF, Karnataka, India New Zealand *Coromandel, New Zealand, a town on the Coromandel Peninsula *Coro ...

in 1996. Lee, a principally conservative member of the National Party caucus would later come to believe that the National Party was drifting away from conservatism, but initially resolved to fight the shift from within the party. After a three year period as a Cabinet Minister in the Bolger government, Lee resigned from the National Party in 1993. Lee had a reputation as one of the more conservative MPs in Parliament, and was particularly active in opposing

Fran Wilde Dame Frances Helen Wilde (née Kitching, born 11 November 1948) is a New Zealand politician, and former Wellington Labour member of parliament, Minister of Tourism and Mayor of Wellington. She was the first woman to serve as Mayor of Wellingt ...

's homosexual law reform bill.

Christian Democrats

At first, it was thought likely that Lee would join the Christian Heritage Party, but talks between Lee and Christian Heritage broke down. An important issue was that of "confessionalism": Lee, while strongly believing in Christian teachings as a basis for morality, believed that anyone who shared the proper principles should be allowed to contribute, even if they were not actually Christian. The Christian Heritage Party, being strongly confessionalist, rejected this, saying that it was only logical that a Christian party should bar non-Christians from membership. This issue, as well as a number of smaller points, caused Lee to turn away from Christian Heritage and establish his own party in 1994. Lee initially called his group the United Progressive Party, but in 1995, it was relaunched as the

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

. Sporadic talks with Christian Heritage continued, with many Christian activists putting pressure on both sides to unify. Eventually, in late 1995, the Christian Coalition was established. In the 1996 election, however, the Coalition narrowly missed out on entering Parliament. It later collapsed amid many accusations and recriminations. In the 1997 Queen's Birthday Honours, Lee was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for public services. Lee had told his family that if he failed to remain in Parliament, he would retire from politics. After his departure from politics, he became involved as CEO for the Christian housing provider

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a Ch ...

and wrote an autobiography about his religious views and political life within the National and Christian Democrat parties, as well as his ongoing political stance. For his current organisational affiliation, see concluding paragraph and links section. The party then renamed itself

Future New Zealand The Christian Democrat Party of New Zealand was a Christian socially conservative political party established in 1995. It contested the 1996 general election as part of the Christian Coalition with the Christian Heritage Party. It changed it ...

and contested the 1999 elections. It later merged with Peter Dunne's United Party to form

United Future New Zealand United Future New Zealand, usually known as United Future, was a centrist political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside Labour (2005–2008) and then supporting National (2008–2017). U ...

in 2000. The party received 8 seats at the 2002 election. However, most New Zealanders realised that this was merely a cosmetic change during the 47th New Zealand Parliament, with most of the caucus professing either fundamentalist Protestant or conservative Catholic religious beliefs.

Later years

Graeme Lee was a minister at Auckland's Greenlane Christian Centre for a brief period of time, and was also one of the co-ordinators of Vision New Zealand, a national evangelical/ecumentalist umbrella group. Subsequently, Lee was involved in organising the New Zealand itinerary of a US

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

televangelist,

Greg Laurie Greg Laurie (born December 10, 1952) is an American author and pastor who serves as the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship with campuses in Riverside, Orange County and Maui. Laurie came to faith at the age of 17 as the Jesus Moveme ...

, in 2011. He has been leading the New Zealand branch of Christians for Israel, a Christian Zionist group. His daughter, Denise Krum, stood for

United Future United Future New Zealand, usually known as United Future, was a centrist political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside Labour (2005–2008) and then supporting National (2008–2017). Uni ...

in the 2008 general election. However, UFNZ Leader

Peter Dunne Peter Francis Dunne (born 17 March 1954) is a retired New Zealand politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ōhāriu. He held the seat and its predecessors from 1984 to 2017—representing the Labour Party in Parliament from 1984 ...

was the only UFNZ MP returned to Parliament, due to his anchoring constituency seat. Krum joined the National Party in 2009, becoming a deputy chair of the Northern Region. She unsuccessfully applied to become National Party candidate for the

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

electorate, but became a National Party List MP candidate at the

2011 New Zealand general election The 2011 New Zealand general election took place on Saturday 26 November 2011 to determine the membership of the 50th New Zealand Parliament. One hundred and twenty-one MPs were elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives, 70 from sing ...

. However, she was ranked at 69 on the National Party list and consequently did not enter Parliament. Krum later ran successfully for the Auckland Council and was elected Councillor in 2013 for the Maungakiekie-Tamaki Ward.

Notes

References