Dom Post on pledge card legalisation bill

Friday's Dom Post Editorial lays into the The Appropriation (Continuation of Interim Meaning of Funding for Parliamentary Purposes) Bill.

The legislation is as outrageous as the spending that provoked it. It is every bit as outrageous as its companion measure, the Electoral Finance Bill, also before the House.

The former will allow to spend their cut of the $14.6 million as they see fit; the latter will effectively deny all but MPs the opportunity to spend more than a pittance publicly advocating, backing or opposing policy.

Indeed.  It is a three part whammy:

  1. The EFB restricts how much one can criticise parties and MPs, extending the period of regulated speech
  2. The EFB exempts parliamentary spending
  3. The ACIMPPB removes restrictions on parliamentary expenditure in the last 90 days

The net effect is that you have de facto state funding of political parties, but even worse that their electioneering is exempt from electoral spending limits.

The goes on to say:

It is incredible that any social democrat party would countenance such a move but when a party faces possible defeat, it can elevate ambition over ethics. Miss Clark seems to be calculating that the public interest in election spending is over – that, while voters got seriously angry in 2006, this latest row will be an overnight wonder.

National needs to ensure she is wrong.

Indeed.  National can not stop these two laws, but they should continue to remind the public of them right up until election day.

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