Tamihere John: Electoral Matters Bill — First Reading 
Tamihere John: Electoral Matters Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:618;Page:14211] 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE (Minister of Youth Affairs) 
: 
 I commend the first reading of this omnibus Electoral Matters Bill to the House. In doing so I want to make a number of observations about previous speakers. The Green member Rod Donald and the Hon Ken Shirley from the ACT party stood up and proselytised about the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act which is also known as the “party-hopping” legislation. Integrity is an interesting term for those two people to refer to because veritably they have gone boing boing around this House. They have been in more parties than the honourable “member for Courtenay Place” Winston Peters and that has to be saying something. Rod Donald has been in so many parties—the Values Party the Socialist Party the Green Party the Alliance—that if we name a party he has bounced around it. The Hon Ken Shirley is the same. The Hon Ken Shirley gave an opinion with regard to the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act. ACT members railed against that Act—they voted against it they hated it and they bemoaned it. But ACT is the first and is likely to be the only party that seeks to apply it. That is the type of standard that is brought to the House by the ACT party. I regret that. 
I want to commend the work of the Justice and Electoral Committee. It is a very fine committee and the type of report that it brings to this House is excellent. It is also noted that the amendments proposed in the bill in relation to the broadcasting regime are intended to enable the Electoral Commission to allocate funds more effectively. I too regret that more work was not done with regard to the way that parties could be funded the way that we disclosed the type of funding and the like. That is a very important debate that must be had at another time. I want to note though that parties have spent taxpayers’ funds allocated to their parliamentary services in ways that taxpayers really need to have a good think about. National Party members have run huge advertising pages and have stood up and said all sorts of misleading and wrong things. If that is the way the National Party wants to conduct itself—by inappropriately spending parliamentary funds and money the taxpayer has voted for it—and if it cannot manage its affairs any better than that then it has to be said that the party is in great difficulty and has great problems. 
I want to conclude by indicating that Kiwis want finality and certainty with regard to the members of Parliament who represent them. To that extent this legislation indicates quite carefully and clearly why an MP should cease to be an MP. There are four counts: that the MP ceases to be a New Zealand citizen; that the MP has acquired dual or multiple citizenship except by descent or birth; that the MP accepts nomination or has otherwise agreed to be a candidate for election to another Parliament; and that the MP is appointed to an office that involves the taking of an oath or the making of a declaration or acknowledgment of allegiance obedience or adherence to a foreign State or power. I think we all agree that we should bring those matters to some finality and give some certainty to them. I want to acknowledge the role that the Hon Harry Duynhoven has brought to bear in ensuring that in terms of our constitutional processes we now have certainty clarity probity and propriety. 
Bill read a first time.