Dean Jacqui: Electoral Finance Bill — In Committee 
Dean Jacqui: Electoral Finance Bill — In Committee 
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JACQUI DEAN (National—Otago) 
: 
 As David Benson-Pope noted earlier this afternoon it is important to look at the Electoral Finance Bill in its wider context. This is the second time in this term of Parliament that we on this side of the Committee have listened to the Labour-led Government defending the indefensible and the public know it. The public can see right through what is going on in this Committee. At about this time last year the Government introduced the Appropriation (Parliamentary Expenditure Validation) Bill. 
R Doug Woolerton 
: Was that a year ago? 
JACQUI DEAN 
: It was a year ago and the appropriation legislation was updated earlier this month as well. The Appropriation (Parliamentary Expenditure Validation) Bill was of course to retrospectively make legal that which was illegal. I never thought I would see the day when I would sit in the House of Parliament debating a bill that had as its core purpose to make legal that which was illegal. My forebears will be spinning in their graves. This Labour-led coalition Government passed legislation at about this time last year to cover its butt after spending $800000 of taxpayers’ money—not party money not money it had raised itself but taxpayers’ money our money our taxation money—on its air-brushed pledge card. 
The Auditor-General Kevin Brady wrote a report about the time of that bill and he made several points in it. The first thing that the Auditor-General noted was: “I thought there was little doubt that it was not permissible to use public money from the Party and Member Support appropriations for electioneering. I expected MPs and parliamentary parties to be especially careful in that area.” But not the Labour Party which is why about this time last year we had the Appropriation (Parliamentary Expenditure Validation) Bill to make it legal. I say that is shameful in this House of Parliament. So what do we have now? The Labour Party was shamed—some parties in this House have not been—into eventually paying that taxpayer funding back and now it is broke. The Labour Party is broke and that is the truth about what is behind this current bill in front of us. The Labour Government is broke and so it wants once again to screw the scrum with the Electoral Finance Bill. This bill—the second piece of reprehensible legislation we are debating today—is all about Government funding by stealth by a broke Government. 
This bill is purely about screwing the scrum in favour of the Government. This bill is not about providing a fair playing field—those claims are nonsense. This bill is openly about Labour trying to win another election. Well how noble is that? I would suggest to members that this is the second shameful piece of legislation brought to this Committee by this current Labour-led coalition Government. Every mention we hear in this Committee of this bill nobbling National’s rich mates reeks of tall poppy envy. Well guess what? This Parliament should be better than that. We should be passing law in this Parliament better than that. The Minister Rick Barker in his speech openly acknowledged that this bill is about nobbling National’s supporters while protecting those who support this bereft Government.