Dalziel Lianne: Appointments — Electoral Commission 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Dalziel Lianne: Appointments — Electoral Commission 
[Sitting date: 18 August 2010. Volume:665;Page:13266. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Labour—Christchurch East) 
: 
 I rise to support the motion and to welcome the two appointments to the new Electoral Commission. The Hon Justice Sir Hugh Williams is more than qualified to continue the role under the new electoral framework that he commenced in September last year under the old framework. Justice Williams brings a depth of experience to the role. This will be welcome as the Parliament beds in new electoral finance laws and conducts as I think it will have to do an in-depth independent review of MMP after the referendum survives the attempts of those determined to remove proportional representation from our electoral landscape. 
It is for that reason in particular that I welcome Justice Williams’ appointment. Reflecting back on the Royal Commission on the Electoral System which was the precursor to the change to our electoral system producing the MMP system I note that it was a judge who chaired that royal commission Justice Wallace. I think it is fitting and appropriate that a judge will lead this all-important review which is designed to mitigate some of the unintended consequences of the system of MMP chosen by the people of New Zealand by referendum in 1993. 
I regret that such an independent process was not provided for in the original legislation when we changed to MMP. The reason I regret it is that the select committee process that was provided for in the alternative although chaired by the Speaker of the day did not have the degree of separation or distance from this place that such a review required. I welcome the appointment of a judge to the most senior position within our electoral framework. 
Robert Peden of course has been a source of excellent advice and support across Governments and Parliaments and he is in fact currently one of the advisers to the Electoral Legislation Committee which is the temporary select committee I have the pleasure of sitting on. It was set up to deal with two bills: one on electoral finance reform and another on the issue of the coming referendum as well as some of the Parliamentary Service rules that have been referred to us in the Parliamentary Service Amendment Bill. Mr Peden is extremely practised and he has an excellent knowledge of the law as well as a very practical understanding of how the law works for people who are candidates people who are concerned about the activities of candidates political parties and obviously members of the public as well. I think he has performed an excellent role in terms of education and in terms of the standing he has gained in the community through ensuring that those things are addressed in a proper way. 
I think it is important to remember that people’s reputations can stand or fall when they fall foul of electoral rules whether the mistake is deliberate or not. I recall occasions in the past when individuals have been found guilty of “corrupt practices” because that is the language used in the legislation even though it was not a deliberate fraud on the system or an attempt to skirt round the rules. In fact in one case I recall it was simply a failure to calculate GST on the amount that had been spent. It was interesting because the National Party did precisely that but in that case the concern was over television advertising and the party could not be done for corrupt practice which just shows us that one size does not fit all as far as the law is concerned. That is why someone of Mr Peden’s integrity is required to fulfil the role and I fully support his appointment. 
I look forward to the Government completing its consultations so we can see a deputy chair appointed in the not too distant future. We have been consulted on the possible deputy and I presume that other parties are being consulted on who it might be and if it does turn out to be the person whom I understand it will be we will be very pleased with that appointment as well. 
I understand as the Minister of Justice has confirmed tonight that the appointment of these two members to the Electoral Commission has been made to meet the needs of the impending by-election occasioned by the departure of the Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban. I thought it would be appropriate to acknowledge her role model status as an effective Minister whom I worked with particularly closely as Minister of Women’s Affairs on economic development issues for Pasifika women. I want to place that on record and to say how sad we are to see her go. In many respects where she is going she will be able to continue the very good work she started on behalf of Pasifika women in particular and I wish her all the very best for the future. 
I tossed up whether I should mention the last thing I will mention in the context of this discussion but given the need to appoint members of the commission now because of the impending by-election and the need to have things up and running for 1 October I decided I should. I do not like mentioning the fact that there are brain-dead bloggers out there in cyberspace who say terrible things about people that simply are not true. I do not like the fact that I will mention Whale Oil Beef Hooked because I do not ever ever read his site—I do not. The only reason I am aware of what he has written on his site which is entirely relevant to the debate on these appointments is that I had the chair of my electorate committee send me an email asking me to tell her that I was not leaving. I immediately responded to her asking her where she got that information from. It came from a very unreliable source. We think that Aaron Gilmore was the real source of information; that was just wishful thinking on his part. 
I place on record that I am not about to cause a by-election. I am nominating myself to be reselected as the candidate for Christchurch East. I have already submitted my nomination form to the Labour Party. It has been received and I have a letter confirming the receipt of the nomination. I have not been overseas in the last few weeks; I am not applying for a job overseas. I think somebody will have to get over the fact that they are standing in a seat that will return a Labour MP. I feel honoured to be able to serve that electorate I believe I serve that electorate well and I look forward to continue to serve it in the future. I support the motion.