Pettis Jill: Electoral Finance Bill — In Committee 
Pettis Jill: Electoral Finance Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:644;Page:13611] 
JILL PETTIS (Labour) 
: 
 I want to start by giving a brief response to the comments made by Metiria Turei from the Greens about a review. The Government is not opposed to a review but at this stage we cannot support the detailed review as outlined by the Greens. In fact the Hon Mark Burton in his first reading speech announced that he intended to establish a review of electoral administration and political party funding. The Hon Mark Burton said that the panel would be appointed and would report back by December 2008. We are most certainly open to further discussion with the Greens and other support parties about a review and what form this dialogue might include. 
I ask National Party members whether instead of filibustering as they are they will tell us what they actually think about a Citizens’ Assembly. It has gone very quiet. They have no answers; all they have are objections. They have no positive comments to make at all about being forward-looking and future-thinking. In fact all the filibustering by National members is because they were caught out—they were caught with their fingers in the till. The National Party as Doug Woolerton said used to play by the rules. It used to be an honourable party but it is so no longer. That is what all the filibustering over there is about. National has been caught with its fingers in the till. Its members are trying to talk clause by clause but their opposition has nothing to do with those clauses; it is about getting their filthy little hands on anonymous money on money from covert secret organisations that operate nefariously and illicitly in our community. The National Party used to be a fair party until “Desperate Don” and “Gerrymandering John” came along and tried to rort the system. “Gerrymandering John” is desperate to get his hands on the filthy moolah from those covert— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: No no. When speaking about members of Parliament the member needs to speak of them by their proper name. I just caution the member. [ 
Interruption 
] We have not had a warning I guess this afternoon but when I am making a ruling on a point of order it is helpful to have silence. I just say to the member to watch the personal abuse. We have had a couple of cases of that this afternoon; we do not want any more. 
JILL PETTIS 
: Thank you for your guidance Madam Chair because I would not want there to be any confusion. I am grateful for the opportunity to have some clarification. 
John Key wants to get his hands on the money from the Exclusive Brethren and from those secret donors such as the Waitemata Trust. John Key knows that the National Party has no hope of winning on policy because National does not have any policy. So National wants to get its hands on tons of dough to spend on advertising because it cannot win on policy. National members know that and they are absolutely desperate to get their hands on those buckets of money—money beyond our personal wildest dreams—which they know they need to spend on the next election campaign. We know that these covert people are lurking out there as we speak saying: “When can we deposit the cheque? When can we write it out?”. In the last election campaign the Exclusive Brethren said: “Here’s $1.2 million.” National took it and spent it and it was caught out. It was a guilty secret its members hoped to keep but they were caught out. We know that the Exclusive Brethren who were very active in Australia with its election just last month and were caught bringing in suitcases of money have got their bags packed already with all the money that they want to give to National next time. 
So I say to National members not to tell us that their opposition to this bill is all about freedom of speech. It is not about freedom of speech; it is about National wanting to receive filthy lucre from anonymous covert sources. It has nothing to do with freedom of speech. Freedom of speech and freedom to buy speech are not the same thing. National members need to remember that one cannot buy elections; New Zealanders do not like it.