State Funded Political Parties
November 9th, 2003 at 1:03 pm by David FarrarThe Labour Party President has called for direct taxpayer funding of political parties.
I am very much against this, even though as a party activist I know how much time and energy it takes up to fund-raise. I have organised dozens of fund raisers ranging in profitability from $150 to $7,000 and they are all hard work.
But it would be very unfair to have taxpayer funding of political parties, because it would entrench in the existing parties more. It is a good thing that because Jim Anderton tried to make himself dictator for life of the Alliance that the party fell apart, lost all its supporters and hence its funding base. The same applies to Social Credit in the past.
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November 9th, 2003 at 3:57 pm
I found it quite surprising that Labour called for this given the ready source of cash they have with the CTU. I guess that 4 weeks annual leave will keep the CTU happy – and the money flowing in but I understand that several of the non-aligned unions such as NUPE are less than impressed with Labour.
Also a surprise that Labour made a loss on its last election – admittedly they spent money like it was going out of fashion but given the big donations from the Unions, the “good citizen” donations of some of the big corporates Labour clearly fell short in membership and fundraising.
Vote:November 10th, 2003 at 6:31 am
Gotta say, I’m vaguely irritated that I keep recieving labour propoganda in Office of the Prime Minister envelopes ranting about what a good job labour is doing. I expect the Government to govern with my taxpayer dollar, not electioneer.
Vote:November 11th, 2003 at 12:36 pm
Of course, this is the same Labour Party that was the largest recipient of ‘anonymous’ donations at the last two elections – while calling for such donations to be banned.
There is nothing supporting public-minded citizens sending donations to every registered political party, if they so wish. The problem is that most regard all parties with equal contempt.
Vote:November 11th, 2003 at 12:44 pm
Sorry. That should read “There is nothing preventing public-minded citizens sending donations to every registered political party, if they so wish.”
Vote:November 12th, 2003 at 12:54 pm
I think it’s merely a matter of time. It’s been Labour Party policy for a considerable period of time and one day it will happen, if we stay in Government.
The key thing is that people don’t join political parties to be fundraisers. Parties should be about campaigning, about developing policies, and providing the grass-roots linkage between parliamentarians and the public as a whole.
Almost every other liberal democracy has public funding. I don’t see why we should stand out. It would let parties do what they are for, and most importantly would prevent anyone buying an election – be it unions, or big business, or anyone else.
That said, I agree with DPFs point that it would need to be carefully structured so as to prevent it supporting decaying parties too long, or new and growing parties too slowly. There are lots of examples to look at though – this issues are not un-resolvable.
Jordan
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