Pillay Lynne: Electoral Finance Bill Broadcasting Amendment Bill (No 3) Electoral Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
Pillay Lynne: Electoral Finance Bill Broadcasting Amendment Bill (No 3) Electoral Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
[Volume:644;Page:14053] 
LYNNE PILLAY (Labour—Waitakere) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to stand to speak in support of the three bills arising from the Electoral Finance Bill. I thank the Justice and Electoral Committee members from Labour the Green Party and New Zealand First for the constructive role that they played. Not only was it a constructive role but also they turned up to the committee meetings—they were there steadily. They did not have all and sundry there to represent their parties. They were consistent they turned up and they worked on the legislation. I also thank the staff and the advisers for all the hard work they did. It is very much appreciated. 
This legislation is a necessary response to an unprecedented abuse of our democratic processes. Prior to the 2005 election the National Party and its allies led a campaign designed to find loopholes in the rules—or simply to breach them—and to seek to overwhelm the election outcome with money. National introduced the continuous campaign to politics in this country seeking by enormous expenditure to expose the public to its paid message everywhere. Such behaviour put democracy in New Zealand at risk. Big anonymous money can never be permitted to shape thought in a democracy. This legislation allows the public to have confidence that the covert campaign to buy persuasion and influence will be very difficult to repeat. 
As documented by Nicky Hager the National Party accepted the support of and colluded with the Exclusive Brethren. It behaved in a similar fashion with the Maxim Institute with the so-called Fair Tax lobby and with extremely wealthy members of the Auckland business community. By accepting their contributions and colluding in the planning of campaigns and advertisements National subverted the spirit of our dearly held laws. It gained massive advantage over those parties that sought to campaign in the fair open and democratic manner that New Zealand citizens expect and deserve. Mercifully National failed to steal the election. 
This legislation regulates the role of third parties in that it requires them if they seek to campaign for or against candidates parties or combinations of both to be open about doing so. If they do campaign they are capped in their advertising expenditure at $120000. As part of National’s strategy trusts were used to cover up donations over the limit of $10000 at which they would otherwise have to be disclosed. This legislation regulates the use of trusts. Although those donations are not completely outlawed undue influence and abuse are countered by the introduction of caps on them. With this regime in place the public can be confident that influence is not for sale via donations. By extending the regulated period to the year of an election campaign the insidious influence of the continuous campaign which became a feature—a shameful feature—of our political landscape during the last election cycle can be avoided and a level playing field established. In order to prevent undue influence from outside New Zealand overseas donations are also regulated. We are a small democracy in a globalised world. Our elections should not be for sale to the highest foreign bidder. 
In summary this legislation provides solutions that further the cause of democracy through enhancing transparency and accountability. It enhances democracy by preventing the abuse of the democratic process. It takes a strong stand against the undue influence of money in politics. I am proud to stand with my colleagues in the Labour Party and with the Progressive party the Greens and New Zealand First in giving this legislation my strong support.