Woolerton R Doug: General Debate 
Woolerton R Doug: General Debate 
[Volume:642;Page:12011] 
R DOUG WOOLERTON (NZ First) 
: 
 I am a member of the Justice and Electoral Committee which is discussing and taking submissions on the Electoral Finance Bill. After hours and back home in Hamilton people whom I knew in the National Party—farmers businessmen and people like that—are saying to me: “Why is the National Party opposed to this bill? It seems to be fair. It seems to square up the playing field. Why is the modern-day National Party voting against it?”. I say to them: “Look you will not know this but I want to tell you something that’s just between you and me.” Such is the number of people who have asked me about this—I feel I should share what I tell them with this House. 
At the present time the New Zealand National Party has about $5 million lying around that it hopes to use on the election. We know that National members will start a billboard campaign within the next month or two. But why are they moaning about this bill? They are moaning about it because it puts a regulatory period in the year of the election that can extend out to 11 months. We think that is fair. We in New Zealand First have nothing to hide. We are happy that our money is counted. We are happy that everybody knows about it. But one may ask how the National Party got all that dough. 
We know from emails that under Don Brash National intended to run two election campaigns. It was going to run the election campaign that we saw then it was going to run an election campaign after it had destabilised the Government. We in New Zealand First know from email evidence that if National had gained enough votes for New Zealand First to support it at the last election—and this is the bit—it would have made that support fail. That was the plan and we have that information. That was the plan. It is not known by all the National Party MPs but the hierarchy of the National Party had a plan—and we have it—to collapse that agreement and fight another election. That is what it was going to do. [ 
Interruption 
] I ask Harry Duynhoven whether he knew that. That is what National was going to do and we have the evidence. 
That did not happen so the National Party has all that money which it wants to spend at the next election. It wants to outspend everybody in town. As I said last week instead of the Brethren giving the money to the National Party National may well have to at the next election give some of its money to the Brethren so that the Brethren can run an alternative campaign and thus get around the spending caps that apply to the rest of us. National is very good at that as I outlined last week. But in New Zealand First and I think in other parts of the House we believe in the one person one vote principle. That is what this democracy is built on and that is what unfortunately—with clever deals with side deals and with all sorts of other mechanisms—people in this Parliament have spent a lot of money on getting around. 
We do not believe that money should be buying influence. We do not believe that money should be buying votes. We believe as old-fashioned as we are—and I will hand it to everybody; we may be altruistic and we may be old-fashioned—that the vote from the poorest person in the country is just as important as the vote from the richest person. That is what the Electoral Finance Bill is about. That is why New Zealand First is proud to support it and that is exactly why the National Party is opposed to it. National is opposing it every inch of the way and sadly it is opposing it on the basis of free speech which is not what it is about.