Top disciple challenges leader

Christian Heritage Party leader Graham Capill's deputy says he should resign.

"There comes a time when all good leaders know it is time to go," said Merepeka Raukawa-Tait.

Mrs Raukawa-Tait is a former Women's Refuge head who became Mr Capill's deputy in February, and was the party's Wairarapa candidate.

Her comments follow a row over a report criticising Mr Capill's leadership, written by Mrs Raukawa-Tait's campaign manager, Adam Owens.

She said she had been told voters had an aversion to Mr Capill, and the party would continue to be unsuccessful with its present leadership.

She said she had not been invited to take part in a party executive meeting in Auckland on Saturday at which Mr Capill has said he will put his leadership on the line.

But she had been asked to meet the executive on Monday.

After past general elections, the executive has declined to accept Mr Capill's resignation.

"This was understandable after the first couple of defeats, but the time has come to accept his resignation and move on," Mrs Raukawa-Tait said.

Although she had still not seen the Owens report, she supported the need for a public discussion about the future of the party.

Mrs Raukawa-Tait said she did not want to discuss her own future with the party until the leadership issue was resolved.

The party needed to take a long hard look at itself and its leadership, its messages and the way it communicated, she said.

Mr Capill said he did not want to discuss the Owens report.

Speaking from his Christchurch home yesterday, he said he took "some responsibility" for a lacklustre election day showing.

But success could not be measured only in terms of seats won.

"Many members take a different view to the sorts of evaluation that you get in the main parties," he said.

"Many members would say we have been successful in promoting family issues ... and therefore they're not in the mood to boot me out.

"In the email that has come in subsequent to Merepeka going public, there is a lot of support for me to continue as leader."

Mr Owens stood by his criticism and his credentials as a long-time worker for the Australian Liberal Party.

He said he had been invited to work for Christian Heritage after helping run two training sessions for it before the 1999 election.

- NZPA

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