The truth comes out
The NZ Herald reports a damning story by NZPA about how Harry Duynhoven told some constituents that he was happy for there to be a by-election but that Labour was worried it would take a hammering over the foreshore and seabed issue.
Now some people have not been convinced that this is a big issue. But just think about the precedent that we have allowed this Government to not just set, but get away with.
We now have a precedent that the Government can retrospectively amend the electoral act to avoid an election, because the timing is politically inconvenient.
Clark has already shown a willingness to have an early election on the filmiest of grounds (that seven minutes a day of points or order were making the Government unmanageable), and now she has cancelled an election on equally flimsy grounds. Arrogance doesn’t even come close to the epitaphs I am thinking of.
August 14th, 2003 at 11:31 pm
Frightening how the government finds the Constitutional foundations of our democracy so expendable. The Harry affair, as with the long list of Wilson’s cronies appointed to various judicial and quasi-judicial posts may not hold a great deal of sway in the day to day lives of NZ’s citizens (as no doubt the Labour Party polling machine will have noted) but it is the first steps towards circum-navigating democracy all together. I note that Labour’s constitutional tweaking (beginning with the removal of NZ titles) is becoming increasingly more brazen. This latest affair is a certainly the coup de grace – to date.
Viva le revolution.
September 20th, 2003 at 2:59 pm
The problem is that NZ does not have a satisfactory constitution protecting the rights of all New Zealanders equally.
We are seeking to invest the Treaty of Waitangi with the job of a constitution. Won’t work, especially as the Treaty can be interpreted to mean anything you like, particularly if you’re of Maori descent. The authors of this troublesome document can have had no concept of things like oil and gas, foreshore and seabed ownership, deep water fisheries or the broadcast system.
It is time that the Teaty was relegated to a museum glass case as a historical curiosity and a proper written constitution that meets the needs of a modern multi racial nation was drawn up.
This would mean that the likes of Ms Clark and co. would find it a lot more difficult to subvert the democratic process as we would have a proper constitutional foundation for the nation.