Goodhew Jo: Electoral Finance Bill — In Committee 
Goodhew Jo: Electoral Finance Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:644;Page:13663] 
JO GOODHEW (National—Aoraki) 
: 
 It would be really easy to stand up here in the Chamber this afternoon during the debate on the title and commencement clauses of this bill and suggest a few alternative titles. But the first thing I want to do is to assure the Minister that on this side of the Chamber she is not seeing mock outrage at all. There is no mockery in what we are debating here today. I can assure her that we are responding to the many many New Zealanders who have told us how much they dislike this bill and who have said they do not want their freedom of speech shut down. I have replied to them that I will be vigorously opposing this bill—and I have done so—and that I will be doing it with the support of my colleagues. 
This bill could well be relabelled the “Bill of Wrongs” and if we did relabel it with that title we would need to attribute that good idea to the  
Listener 
 which is widely thought of as a left-leaning publication. But back in August they already knew at the  
Listener 
 that the assertion of former Minister Mark Burton that the Government was “seeking to encourage full and open expression from a diverse range of interests in the run-up to a general election” was bogus. As a  
Listener  
editorial said this bill could hardly be less likely to achieve that. 
Peter Brown told us that New Zealand First wants controls and that it wants this bill to supply the controls on the way that election campaigning is undertaken. That would be absolutely fine if we had cross-party support and if in fact it did not result in a lessening of the freedom of speech—a lessening of the democracy that we have come to rely on in this country. Similarly the bill could be retitled the “Shut Down the Voice of New Zealanders Bill”. This bill seeks to dissuade New Zealanders from making comments during the course of the election period through registration processes. The bill could be labelled the “Last Gasp for Labour’s Future Bill”. Unashamedly this Government is using the bill to shut down debate to shut down criticism and to make it very difficult for anyone to participate in debates. 
But—and this is a very big capital-letters in-bold “but”—at the same time this Government will authorise millions of taxpayer-funded advertisements to promote its policies in order to flood the minds and consciousness of the public as it makes decisions about New Zealand’s future. The description in the  
Dominion Post  
last month of this attitude by the Labour Government—one of attempting to elevate ambition over ethics—is very apt. 
Hon Annette King 
: Gosh you’re great at mock outrage. 
JO GOODHEW 
: And this is not mock outrage; I am outraged and I can tell the Minister that I have waited a long time to stand and represent the outrage of the people of Aoraki as well. Next year the courts will determine how this bill is interpreted. Lawyers will grapple with this ill-conceived ill-drafted shambolic bill and New Zealanders will further develop their unease. That unease is currently showing in polling. This is an unprincipled desperate unethical abysmal apology for legislation. It is a disgrace to this Parliament. 
The commencement date of this bill is a sham. The legislation seeks to control debate for a period unprecedented in New Zealand's history—11 months. There is no need to wonder why; this desperate Government is clinging on to power and seems oblivious to the scraping of its fingernails on the blackboard of power. New Zealanders are cringing as they hear that sound. They are recognising the antics that smack of an anti-democratic process. Thousands have marched in the streets to protest the rigmarole they will be put through to participate in the democratic process. Many of those people have never participated or openly criticised the Government or any other political party in the past but they are affronted by this apparent attempt to stifle the freedom of speech in next year’s election. 
But worse still this Government is not just desperate. It is not even dateless. Unfortunately on its date it is carrying with it New Zealand First the Progressive party United Future and the Green Party. No it is not dateless but certainly on this occasion the minor parties are not discerning in their choice of a date. They too are being recognised by the public of New Zealand for their partnership in this sorry saga. A healthy democracy should not tolerate this attempt to rort the democratic process. The Law Society has trumpeted the failure of this bill and the Human Rights Commission has added a strangely cautionary note given that this is a Labour Government bill.