National to officially ditch the EFA

National announced yesterday that they are going to ditch the anti-free speech Electoral Finance Act which thousands of Kiwis protested over, including yours truly:

National Party Deputy Leader Bill English says all New Zealanders with an interest in free speech will welcome John Key's confirmation today that a National-led Government will repeal the oppressive Electoral Finance Act.

"This is a self-serving law, passed in haste, and designed to silence Labour's critics in election year.  National will end the farce."

Mr English is commenting after the release of the National Party's electoral law policy was released today. 

"The Electoral Commission and the Law Society have expressed serious reservations about the impact of the EFA on free speech and freedom of expression.  Labour has belittled these concerns.

"The Electoral Finance Act has been a total shambles and those parties who supported it are now all regretting they did so.  We do hope they embrace the chance to fix it."

National will move to repeal the Electoral Finance Act 2007 immediately after the election, but retain the provisions around the transparency of donations.

The old sections from the Electoral Act 1993 will be reinstated, and the Electoral Finance Act sections relating to donations, will be inserted into the Electoral Act 1993.

"National concluded long ago that there needed to be more transparency around donations.  We were genuinely surprised when Labour failed to put in any controls around donations when the law was initially drafted.

"We will retain those provisions from the EFA, and reform electoral law through a process that involves all parliamentary parties and the public in a fair and timely manner.

"When electoral watchdogs say they can't understand the rules, when the law society says the Act is stifling free speech, when MPs have no clear steer on what is an election advertisement – that is banana republic time.  This law should never have been passed and will be repealed by National."

A good clear policy for a confused badly drafted law.

Related Political Animal reading

Electoral Finance Act March Mar 9, 2008
Electoral Finance Bill Vote
NZ losses democratic freedom
Mike Moore turns the knife
List of MPs who voted for Act
Cartoon and comment
Auckland Protest against EFB
The purpose of the Bill is clear

To view National's electoral law summary visit: http://national.org.nz/files/2008/electoral_law.pdf

c Political Animal 2008

Clark's lie central to Glenn donation scandal

It wasn't the actual break-in that cost "Tricky Dicky" his presidency in 1973 but the cover-up that brought his government down.

A similar focus of light should be shone on Helen Clark and her knowledge of the $100,000 donation back in December 2005, when the Labour Party President, Mike Williams, helped execute the loan to Winston Peters for his legal case in the Tauranga seat after the 2005 election..

We know that Williams and Clark are self confessed best friends, we also know they are in constant contact via phone or email and we are all aware that Mike Williams gives all information to her leader-in fact she insists on being fully informed, what she called a "no surprises" way of governing.

It is beyond the realm of possibility and past history that Ms Clark didn't know about the loan from its genesis.

The question is why did she not come forward in February 2008 when the donation scandal broke and only tell the public of her knowledge in August but then say "I knew about the donation in February 2008".

She omitted to reveal what she knew about the scandal in February 2008, then clearly lied about the timing in August.

One has to ask what more is she hiding, more donations scandals, evidence of her or Labour's deeper involvement? We just dont know.

We don't know because our journos are too gutless to ask her the hard questions. They are afraid of her.

Kiwis need to know of her part in the cover-up and her or Labour's involvement in the donation itself.

Not to know is akin to the running of tenuous democracies in Africa, the Pacific Islands and the current turmoil occurring in Thailand.

Kiwis wont be protesting about their crooked lying Prime Minister like the Thai people currently are but where is our Woodward and Bernstein when it comes to the likes of exposing our own "Corrupt Clark"?

New Zealand needs an open democracy

During my recent visit to Bangkok, I watched a whole lot more TV, for one reason or another this is a sad fact but I wont go into that here!

While watching various news product from around the world, most of it politics, I was struck by how open and free the United States primaries and the US electoral system were. Where else in the world would two sides of the same political party, the Democrats, would go hammer and tongs for 16 months against each other, throw every filthy piece of dirt, tens of millions of dollars and say the most outrageous things that would be the end of the most stable of friendships in the real world, in the hope that one or other individual would be able to challenge John McCain come November 2008 for the US presidency, in the most powerful open democracy in the world.

Related Political Animal reading

NZ losses democratic freedom
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List of MPs who voted for Act
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McCain himself was left open to similar scrutiny, his private life stripped bare for all to see, the very marrow at the centre of his soul was open to question.

No matter the politics that one follows or ones own "world view" one cannot deny that politics in America is in a very healthy state, as defined by the process of selection of candidates,not necessarily the quality of the candidates-you only have to look at the poor political and personal records of Hillary and Barry Obama to see the genesis of truth there.

While watching the box I also saw reported other forms of democracy. The brutal, murderous and secretive dictatorship of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, where politics is decided at the point of a gun and more recently through threat of starvation, Thailand's "benevolent dictatorship" or democracy with a bomb strapped to it in the Hamas led Palestine.

Lying somewhere in between those extremes lies the New Zealand democratic system. Sick from the dog wagging the tail, extremist lunatics like the global warming fanatics in the Green Party, the racist propaganda from the Maori Party, the complete nonsense from Winston Peter's and his New Zealand First Party and the evil Socialist intent of the ruling Labour Party Junta.

We have individuals like Margaret Wilson, Winston Peters, Sue Kedgly and Jeanette Fitzsimmons who were not voted into power by New Zealanders, but by their own party members and they have made life and death decisions based on their own ill conceived form of personal agenda politics on behalf of all0p New Zealanders.

The epitome of how closed our political landscape was the imposition of the Electoral Finance Act by Labour government politicians last year. Unlike the openness and strident debate that has been seen in America for the last 16 months the EFA has led to a fearfulness of opposition to speak out against the incumbent Labour government, by New Zealanders, the media and opposition politicians alike. The threat to an open democracy where debate can be had without fear or favour just doesn't exist in this country anymore.

While Mugabe and Hamas use extreme forms of control to influence political and personal behavior to sniffle debate and the freedoms of their respective political systems and retain political control, the New Zealand Labour Party have used legislation to achieve similar results.

For the future of a good democracy in New Zealand we must reform our nations political structure in a way more closely aligned to America, where free and open debate reign supreme, if not our future lies closer to Mugabe's Zimbabwe rather than the open democracy that we once had.

Removal of the MMP voting system and repeal of the Electoral Finance Act will allow such a democracy to flourish once again and give the nation the hope that it deserves.

c Political Animal 2008

Helengate: Retreat while you are behind

c Emmerson 2008



Related Reading

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Watch Video: Winston's outburst

New Zealand Herald Feature: Democracy under attack

Continuing with her media attack this week, the mother of the nation, Ms Clark drew on the similarities made by journalists, also by Political Animal, between the ousting of a Journo from Fiji this week and Clark's paranoid attack on the media and especially the NZ Herald this week.

She, however, didn't see the obvious similarities that the New Zealand public saw emphasised by this quote from the Prime Minister:

"Democracy of course involves elections but it also involves freedom of media and freedom of speech and you're not going to be able to have a proper democratic process and elections in a years time unless those basic freedoms are upheld."

Earlier on this week Clark's paranoia escalated to lithium sized proportions when she attacked the Herald for running an active campaign for the last 91 years to discredit Labour and that the papers revelations last year over the anti freedom and anti democratic Electoral Finance Act were motivated by greed and a lust to retain advertising on the Herald's part.

Clark of course forgets that the majority of the media also railed against her fascist bill and most sensible people will tell you that the Herald is far left of centre, mostly favours Labour and has done so for her 9 years in the big swiveling chair.

Her Husband, Peter Davis, has dropped his apron and rubber gloves to pen another opus to the NZ Herald over what he calls the papers "happy mischief and headlines" and their attacks on Labour, Owen Glenn, and his rather uniquely attractive wife.

"The Herald has had great fun at the expense of a wealthy donor and a political party.

Fair enough, perhaps, but does this incident not underline how perilous it is for our system of electoral financing to be so dependent - as it is - on (generally secretive) wealthy individuals and corporates?

Electoral financing in most well-ordered countries relies on a judicious mix of expenditure limits, state subsidies, individual contributions, and some transparent, larger donations.

Is it not about time the Herald did some even-handed reviews of the area, rather than just foment happy mischief and headlines?"

Dr Peter Davis, Kingsland

Now I'm not sure if Dr Davis has stopped taking his medication but he writes about "secretive, wealthy" people giving money to political parties but that is the very thing the subject of his letter is about. Glenn loaned $100,000.00 secretly to the Labour Party in 2005!

Now I'm not against individuals or corporates giving any amount of money to a political party, there should be no limits, as is the case in many civilised democratic countries, but I do agree with Davis that those donations should be made in a transperent way.

"some transparent, larger donations"

Davis is clearly referring to Owen Glenn's $500,000.00 donation to Labour for the funding of the 2005 election and it is also significant to the 2008 election because Labour added a specific clause into the Electoral Finanace Act to allow donations for expat individuals such as Glen, who live mostly overseas, to give to the party.


"Is it not about time the Herald did some even-handed reviews of the area"

Obviously Davis shares this view with his good wife and they seem simpatico on such matters.

What galls about New Zealand's first couple attacking the media and the Herald specifically, is that they are merely reporting what has transpired. It happened, get over it, move on, its getting bloody tired and quite frankly not a very statesman like way to behave.

Because you don't agree with it, it doesn't mean you should try and shut down debate by throwing your pitiful socialist labels around like a drunken teenager ejaculating on his bedsheets.

I'm embarrassed for her and her administration and look for more in a leader.

Labour's chief lap-dog Winston "Baubles" Peters also got into the act today. He abused media in a press conference that looked like something from "Yes Minister" crossed with "The Osbourns" and brought back distant memories of a drunken Rob Muldoon, Prime Minister back in the 1970s -80s.

Did Winston have a drink or two on the plane back from meeting with Condoleezza Rice in Korea or did he have a quick swig of duty free in the Airport toilets prior to going before the cameras?

Of course first class travel, five star hotels and late nights can be very stressful.

This attack on the media from the left just has to stop, not for their sake, because it is clearly comedy gold for the media, but for the sake of the Labour Party and its prospects for the coming election.

They should be worried.


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Helen Shoots herself in both feet
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Electoral Finance Bill: The purpose is clear
Owen Glenn given the cold shoulder
Snouts in the trough bent out of shape
The Owen Glenn story: Singing the same tune but hitting a bum note
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Electoral Finance Bill: Day of Protest Auckland Nov 17, 2007

c Political Animal 2008