English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:648;Page:16966] 
2.  
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Leader—National) 
 to the  
Minister of Justice 
: How many times will the Electoral Commission meet before this year’s general election? 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 The Electoral Commission is an independent Crown entity and its meetings are not a matter of ministerial responsibility. However I have been advised that at this stage it intends to meet monthly. The chief executive has assured me that it will meet as many times as are required. 
Hon Bill English 
: Why does the Minister constantly reply to questions in this House about the application of the Electoral Finance Act that those matters will be considered by the Electoral Commission when the commission has said that it will meet only another three times before the election? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I have just given the member an answer that disputes the assertions in his question and I stand by the answer that the Electoral Commission gave me. 
Hon Bill English 
: Why would the Minister take the assurance of the chief executive of the Electoral Commission at face value when 7 months into election year the commission has been unable to give us a definitive position on whether the display of party logos in election year is legal? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Because members of the Electoral Commission are honourable people. 
Hon Bill English 
: When exactly will the Electoral Commission have time to consider the issues that are being raised constantly by political parties given that of the nine items on its agenda when it met 2 weeks ago five were deferred for further consideration at its next meeting which is in another 2 weeks and the decisions on the other four which apparently the commission did make have still not been written up and released and we are now 7 months into election year? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I believe that the commission will look at them at its meetings. The chief executive has said it will have as many meetings as it needs. 
Hon Bill English 
: Well when the Minister is considering how many meetings the commission might need has it occurred to her that politicians and party activists might need to know whether the display of party logos in election year is legal or not legal; or is the Minister happy with the situation where we will not find out until after the election when we may find out that we have all broken the law? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I believe that the people at the Electoral Commission are honourable people. They will make their decisions after consideration. They are not into conspiracy theories which that member is—we get one every day. If a cat dies it is the Electoral Finance Act’s problem if it rains it is the Electoral Finance Act’s problem and if it does not rain it is the Electoral Finance Act’s problem. I say to the member that he ought to have more faith in the officials rather than blaming and bagging them. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Can I ask the Minister what reports she has received on the integrity that should attract to a complaint from a party that insisted that the electoral campaign period should be not from 1 January of any given year but from 3 months before the election and whose member is now complaining that 5 months before the election he does not have a clear definition? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: There is an irony in that. The truth is that Bill English and his party could have campaigned from 1 January if they had wanted to. They have wasted a lot of their money—and it is their money and they can waste it however they like—pursuing issues with the Electoral Commission and in the court rather than spending it on an election campaign. Why do they not just get on with it? 
Hon Bill English 
: Can the Minister confirm that the problem does not lie with the officials but with an Act that she wrote supported and voted for in Parliament and that is so complex and confusing that 7 months into election year very simple issues like the legal display of party logos have not been resolved; and can she tell us whether at any time since she has been Minister of Justice she has been approached by the Electoral Commission to provide the resources it requires to resolve these issues; and if it has approached her what was her response? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I think the member asked four questions; I am required to answer one: no.  
Hon Bill English 
: As the Minister of Justice can she comment on how fair and just it is that many of the issues that are to be decided by the Electoral Commission will not be decided until after the election; has she considered the fact that MPs could lose their seats through an electoral petition and financial agents could be fined up to $40000 because no one could tell them before the election what the law meant and is that Labour’s version of common sense? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I have absolutely no evidence that that assertion is correct.