More Labour ignorance
The Herald has an item over election material by Labour without authorisation. Justice Minister Annette King still seems unaware of parts of her own law. They quote:
Justice Minister Annette King told Parliament the booklet was produced in October and paid for in November, before the Electoral Finance Act took effect on January 1.
It is a well known and long standing principle of electoral that it does not matter when something was produced or when something was paid for. It is all about when it is used, when it is published or distributed to the public.
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Tags: Annette King, Electoral Finance Act, Labour
March 9th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Annette King’s day is coming over her husband’s involvement in the Hawkes Bay Health Board saga. I can hear the hounds yapping in the distance and they close in on this great wind-bag.
March 9th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Why do we have to wait until April for a decision? Aren’t the Electoral Commission officials employed full time, what are they doing that is more important than enforcing electoral laws? I would have thought in an election year with a new law in force they would be sorting out issues as they arise.
March 9th, 2008 at 10:35 am
g_ – The Electoral Commission currently has two people employed full-time for stuff like this (a Chief Executive and a Communications Manager). However, decisions on whether to refer matters to the police, whether to list someone as a third party, etc. are made not by the full-time staff of the Commission but by the Electoral Commissioners (Justice McGechan (of the High Court), the President of the Commission; Chief Judge Williams (of the Maori Land Court) and the Secretary for Justice and Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission). The Commission itself next meets in early April. It won’t make the decision before then.
March 9th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Graeme -
That’s quite fascinating. have the commissioners they met since the Act became law? I find it quite incredulous that something that is going to have such an impact – not only in terms of judging what is a breach and what isn’t – but also agreeing to third parties (of which they are bound to be a few) isn’t meeting more regularly.
Their workload is going to be monumental.
March 9th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Buggerlugs, I think you were looking for the word ‘incredible.’
March 9th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
If its going to take the electoral commission so long to make judgements what will happen if breaches occur closer to the election? Do they have the ability to call for another election if the breech is deemed significant enough?
[DPF: No to the last part. And in previous elections electoral officials have tended to be quite quick in warning about breaches]
March 9th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
people people! don’t you understand, its all about the law of commonsense.
That is, if someone opposes the labour party, the electoral commission will be on them like a ton of bricks – example, the don’t vote labour site.
If the people ARE the labour party, well the electoral commission will get onto it, sometime, maybe, in the next few months, important precedents, very busy people don’t you know…
March 9th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Graeme,
As you are no doubt aware, the Electoral Commission also encourages and conducts public education about electoral matters. Any reason as to why it is not doing so with regards to the EFA?
[DPF: The fact there was no lead time between the law being finalised and passed, and the regulated period starting means they couldn't have pre-prepared material. I understand they are working on some educational material once they have some advice on various legal aspects]
March 9th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Yes this law of common sense… could you pull out your law volumes and show it to us please Annette.
March 9th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Graeme
Oh, surprise, surprise to find Justice McGechan and Chief judge Williams in the electoral commission. Oh my, aren’t we privileged and we’re so lucky to have such legal eagles amongst its ranks. Yeah right!
It makes no sense whatsoever for more grey area law legislation to add to the already chaotic cauldron of statute law. This reeks of political manipulation by judicial spin-doctors and it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. On another matter, what jurisdiction will this matter be heard in – if it ever goes into proceedings?
Confused voter?
March 9th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
This is good news: only two full time staff at the Electoral Commission. Now we can really play up; Liabour are. It seem that, commonsensically, we can do as we please because it will take a meeting of the Commision to consider anything. This makes the new Act an unenforceable joke which we can largely ignore. It merits no respect and the government seems to be according it none either.
[DPF: In previous elections 95% of enforcement was done by the Chief Electoral Officer who has sole authority (does not need a committee meeting) so it has been speedy. The new EFA gives a lot more functions to the Electoral Commission. I imagine they have asked for some more money so they can cope, and are probably awaitign the Budget eagerly]
March 9th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Buggerlugs – yes, the Commissioners have met since the EFB became the EFA.
Mr Nobody – the EC does not have the power to call fresh elections. If some offence occurs shortly before the election, enforcement action will be able to be taken after the election (incl. the prospect of prison time and loss of seat). The High Court possesses the power to void an electorate contest if it is incredibly corrupt, but no-one (save the Governor-General) has such a power in relation to the party vote/ the election as a whole.
March 9th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Graeme, did they consider the situation of the EPMU, or did that come up after? Things seem to have gone silent there.
March 9th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
GE:
Presumably the Electoral Commission might consider delegating the power to refer breaches to the police to the CEO under s73 of the Crown Entities Act 2004?
d
March 9th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Dean – I suppose that’s possible. I understand the Commission does exercise its powers under the unanimous written assent procedures (schedule 5 cl 13) to approve non-controversial matters outside of formal meetings.
So applications to list third parties where there is no serious objection and the application is in order can be approved without waiting for a meeting. Also, I suspect, applications to register political parties where commission staff have confirmed the 500 eligible members etc.
deity – as DPF notes, I understand that Electoral Commission staff can be quick to warn/advise. Referring something to the police (which *did not* happen with the dontvotelabour website) would happen much less quickly.
The Commission/CEO did come out with this:
http://www.elections.org.nz/news/CEO-election-advertisement-statement-070308.html
reasonably quickly.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Hooray. The Herald printed this.