Ryall Tony: Appropriation (Continuation of Interim Meaning of Funding for Parliamentary Purposes) Bill — In Committee 
Ryall Tony: Appropriation (Continuation of Interim Meaning of Funding for Parliamentary Purposes) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:643;Page:13108] 
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) 
: 
 I am pleased to participate in this debate because I think it is important to alert the people of New Zealand who are listening this afternoon to the fact that this bill is an abomination. It is part of the campaign of democracy under attack which the New Zealand Labour Party has talked about this week. It is part of this Government’s plan to rort the electoral system and remove all the restrictions on parliamentary money being used to pay for campaign purposes. 
This bill in concert with the Electoral Finance Bill allows the Labour Party to rort the taxpayer yet again to fund its election campaign. This bill is all about changing the rules to suit the Labour Party. The old rules were clear. If parliamentary money is used to pay for something that is considered to be electioneering in the run-up to the election campaign in the 3 months before the election then it is caught as an election expense. It is absolutely clear. If parliamentary money is used to pay for election activity in the run-up to the election in that 3-month period then it is caught. 
That is what the Auditor-General found and it is what the Chief Electoral Officer warned the Labour Party about. So what will this bill together with the Electoral Finance Bill allow? Instead of restricting in the 3 months before the election how much parliamentary money can be used to contribute to the election of a political party through advertising there will be no restriction through the whole of next year on what parties can spend. 
Members should look at some of the stuff that this bill will allow to be spent on in the run-up to the election. The brochure entitled  
Labour MPs: Women Report 
 talks about all the great things that the Labour Party is doing for women around New Zealand and about what people can do to get more information.  
What About Securing Your Future? 
 talks about all the things that Labour will do for people and about how Labour can make sure that those people get help and that their families can get ahead. What about the brochure  
World-Class Education 
? This brochure would not be illegal if it was not done during the election period. But under very clear rules that this bill changes this brochure will no longer be considered electioneering if it is put out in the 3 months before the election. 
What about this brochure entitled  
Supporting Kiwi Business 
? Here is another flyer from the Labour Party. It was put out 3 months before the election. It used to be caught as an election expense; now it will not be caught as an election expense because of this bill and the Electoral Finance Bill.  
Enhanced KiwiSaver: Investment for a Sustainable Future 
— 
Hon Member 
: Who’s that? 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: This is a deceitful document because it has a deceitful photo on it that bears no real resemblance to the person purporting to be pictured in this document. If this document which talks about enhanced KiwiSaver is put out now it will not be an election expense but if it is put out in proximity to the election then it is an election expense under the old rules and has to be counted in the spending limit. But with this bill together with the Electoral Finance Bill Labour is saying that the document is no longer an election expense. 
Here is another red Labour Party flyer. There is a huge printing press in Wellington smothered in red ink that is pumping out this material every week. This flyer under the old rules would have been an election expense and declared in the 3 months before the election. The Government is now saying that the restrictions for everybody else apply for the whole of next year but Labour will be able to put out this flyer because these rules no longer apply to MPs. 
What about the pamphlet  
Healthy Wealthy and Wise 
? It is another brochure telling people how great the Labour Party is. Under the old rules if this pamphlet was put out in the 3 months before the election it would be electioneering. It is absolutely clear. It would have to be counted in the $2.4 million that Labour is allowed to spend. But now under this bill and the Electoral Finance Bill this pamphlet is no longer an election expense. 
Here is another Labour Party taxpayer-funded card—again with a picture on it of someone purporting to be the Prime Minister of New Zealand but bearing no physical resemblance to the woman I have to look at across the Chamber 3 days a week. She is with another chap the Minister for Ethnic Affairs—“Mr PC”—and the Minister of Education. He was handing out these cards at a Chinese New Year function in Wellington. The card states: “The Labour Party places great value on its relationship with the Chinese community in New Zealand.” If that card had been put out in the previous election period 3 months before the election it would have counted as an election expense. These cards were personally handed out by the Minister for Ethnic Affairs at a Chinese New Year function. But now under this bill together with the Electoral Finance Bill there is no restriction on Labour’s ability to do this. 
Here we are this is the mother of them all: “ 
My Commitment to You 
”. This pledge card together with this brochure paid for by the taxpayers at the last election is an election expense and in fact was an illegal use of taxpayers’ money at the last election. The Auditor-General and the Chief Electoral Officer both told the Labour Party that this pledge card would have to be included as an election expense. But this bill legitimises the spending of that money on another parliamentary card. 
Had “ 
My Commitment to You 
” which was written with the use of New Zealand taxpayers’ money been put out at any other time it probably would not be a matter of dispute. But put out in the 3 months before the election in the regulated period it became not only illegal spending but also election spending. It had to be counted in Labour’s $2.4 million spending limit. But under this bill “ 
My Commitment to You 
” Labour’s pledge card is now legalised. Labour is now legalising the spending of $800000 on more Labour Party propaganda paid for by the taxpayers that is allowed to be distributed within days of the election. That is now legal and it will not count as an election expense. 
So let us talk about it. If this stuff were sent out today it would not be an election expense. But if it had been sent out 2 years ago it would have been an election expense because the old rules said to the Labour Party that if it used the taxpayers’ money to try to get votes and to encourage people to support a party the material would be caught as an election expense. That is what the Auditor-General said; that is what the Chief Electoral Officer said. But now Labour is changing the law. Labour says that the pledge card will now be able to be delivered within days of the election because the Government is changing the law to state that whatever MPs spend their money on in the run-up to the election it will not be an election expense. 
That is what this bill states together with the Electoral Finance Bill—whatever MPs spend of their parliamentary money in the run-up to the election it will not be an election expense. That means that everybody else in New Zealand will have to honour election spending limits except members of Parliament. So why are members of Parliament to be above the rules that everybody else is under? That is what all this material from Labour’s last election that I am holding up means; it all represents parliamentary-spent money designed to win votes for the Government. 
This material at any other time than an election period is allowed. But it is clear that under the old rules if it had been sent out during the election period of 3 months it would have had to count as election spending and there would have been serious concerns about its being spent at the taxpayers’ expense. The Labour Party knows it and that is why there is not a pip or a squeak from the shallow people opposite about it. They know that the plan is to allow the red printing press to roll on completely uncontrolled during the months before the election. 
This pledge card was illegal last election; under this bill the pledge card will no longer be illegal. There will be no need for the Labour Party to refund the cost of this card next election because this bill will make it legal. It puts in separate rules for members of Parliament. Let me just repeat that: the material sent out in the last election would have counted as election expenses. We know that because that is what the Auditor-General and the Chief Electoral Officer said. But this material sent out with taxpayers’ money at the last election is to be counted no more because of this rort of a bill.