Green Party Electoral Policy

The Green Party have published a policy on electoral finance reform. I'll summarise and critique it:

Introduction – shamefully they don't even mention Labour's pre election behaviour where they ignored warnings from the Chief Electoral Officer and lied to him. They also took about over-spending as if $8,000 is the same as $800,000. It's the sort of hypocriticial approach I'd expect from Labour, but not from teh Greens. Remember how once they claimed to be principled on these things.

Even more shamefully they have not written a word on increasing penalties for election law breaches. This is arguably the most important thing to happen – doesn't matter what laws you have if they are not enforced and they do not have significant penalties for non compliance.

* Establish an independent commission of inquiry into campaign finance rules

Good. Agreed it should not just be the MPs who do it. But it can't just be Labour and Greens who appoint the Commission.

* Ban anonymous donations over $1,000

I think there is univerdal support for full transparency of significant donations. The issue is at what level is a donation significant. I think the current level of $10,000 is about right. Labour's proposal of $5,000 is okay. $1,000 is too low. No-one buys any influence or policy for $1,000.

* Ban overseas donations

Their only exception is for NZers living overseas and eligible to vote. That is fairer than what Labour proposes which is to allow their sugar daddy who has not lived here since 1966 to keep donating.

* Rolling in the election lead up

No real problem with this. Weekly is proposed. Could argue for fortnightly. In my experience once the campaign starts all the activity is on spending money not raising it.

* Limits on total donations

So long as there is full transparency, I am unconvinced one needs a limit. The public are sensible people and can judge for themselves if they see anything wrong with such donations. Also the Greens proposal will lead to a US style campaign finance system (US has $2,000 limits) where most money goes to lobby groups, who have less rigorous disclosure requirements and less public accountability.

The Green rationale for wanting to encourage parties to reach out to more people for funding is unconvincing, considering they are strong supporters of compulsory taxpayer funding, which would act as far less of an incentive for mass membership and support.

Also Kiwi Pundit makes a point I had been planning to make – why regulate the amount of money one can donate but not the amount of time? If you believe it is unfair someone can donate more money than someone poorer than them, then is it not equally unfair that someone who is unemployed can donate more time than someone who has a job?

* extend the campaign spending cap period back to 1 January

This is preposterous and to be blunt an outrageous suppression of the right of opposition parties to campaign against the Government while the Government is still spending state money on advertising, passing budgets, passing laws. A fixed date for the campaign period is desirable but anything before 1 September is too far out.

* Third party campaigns over $1,000 to register with Electoral Commission

Agreed

* $50,000 cap from 1 January on third party expenditure

This is a magnitude too low. Reputable groups like Federated Farmers will be prevented from campaigning against say the Fart Tax. The cap should be similar to what political parties themselves can spend – $1 million.

The Greens should trust the intelligence of voters to judge the source of any campaign material, and give it an appropriate weighting in their minds.

* Clarify parliamentary rules on expenditure

It's easy. During the election period, the parliamentary parties should not pay for any advertising at all, except the most basic stuff such as electorate office hours.

* Maintain status quo on broadcast funding and allocation

Actually I would abolish the funding, and remove the restrictions on parties buying their own air time. It's inconsistent to say a party can not buy a 30 second radio ad on Radio Live, but they can buy a full page ad in the NZ Herald.

* Remove major party reps from Representation Commission and Electoral Commission when doing broadcasting

The status quo is not very satisfactory, but I am not sure total removal of reps is the right answer. The political reps can often bring useful knowledge and perspective to the roles. There may be some compromise such as non voting members.

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