Jones Dail: Electoral (Vacancies) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
Jones Dail: Electoral (Vacancies) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:610;Page:7769] 
DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 New Zealand First has given a clear indication to the Committee that we will be moving an amendment to Part 1 “Preliminary provisions” with regard to the expiry date of the Electoral (Vacancies) Amendment Bill. By the Government’s decision the Act comes into force on the day on which it receives the royal assent. That could be today 7 August or it could be tomorrow 8 August. We want to limit the damage created by this bill to the very shortest time possible. We will therefore move an amendment that the Act will expire not—as the Government wishes—with the close of polling day for the first general election held after the date on which this Act comes into force but on the day after the day on which it comes into force. If this bill comes into force on Friday 8 August we want the law to expire on Saturday. That will protect Harry Duynhoven which is the promise we made to him but it will not protect anybody else from breaching the law in the future. However the position of others who are in the same position as Harry Duynhoven and who have not come forward and admitted their guilt in breaching the Electoral Act will still be protected. 
There are other amendments before the House that New Zealand First will be giving close consideration to. New Zealand First is prepared to cooperate with amendments that are reasonable. For example if our amendment happens to be unsuccessful—and though I hate to broadcast that it might be unsuccessful one has to face reality sometimes—we would have no hesitation in supporting United Future’s amendment which is along the same lines. In fact it provides specifically that the bill expires on 6 August 2003. It is important that all members of Parliament behave reasonably and ensure that there is some cooperation so that in one way or another a majority of the House—and hopefully we can get the Greens along on this one as well—can bring the “mischief” to an end either on 8 August as New Zealand First suggests or on 6 August as United Future suggests. 
If the Greens are at all sincere in the speeches they have made in the House about identifying a “mischief” and remedying the evil that might have been created I say to them that we know what the “mischief” is and we can end it for sure by passing either the New Zealand First or the United Future amendment on the expiry date. That is the clear situation. If the Greens do not vote for either amendment or any similar amendments—and I suspect that the United Future amendment might have the best chance of going ahead because of the way it has been presented—and still insist on not supporting an amendment to limit the damage to a date in August we will know for certain that all the Greens are trying to do now is take over the role that United Future has had in this House—as we have said of being the lapdogs of the Labour Party. 
I am being as fair as I can to United Future as I am sure Mr Dunne and Ms Turner will agree. The Greens will be lapdog 2 in this House and United Future might be happy with that. The Greens will definitely become lapdog 2 in the way they will vote on this legislation and in the way they have voted in recent times to support the Government at any cost whatsoever. The Greens are no longer a Green party. They are purely a survival party. That is all. Their interest in the environment has long gone. There are many members in this House including members of New Zealand First who have a greater regard for the environment than the Greens ever had and certainly more concern than the Greens have today. 
 In the light of this legislation we are concerned that the present member Harry Duynhoven is flying the Dutch flag in his ministerial office or so I understand. 
Dr Wayne Mapp 
: Saw it on TV. 
DAIL JONES 
: I believe it but I find it very hard to believe. I ask where his allegiance is.