English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
English Bill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:650;Page:18605] 
8.  
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Leader—National) 
 to the  
Minister of Justice 
: Why was the appointment of an expert panel to look at electoral law announced last Friday? 
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister for Economic Development) 
 on behalf of the  
Minister of Justice 
: Because that was when the appointment process had been completed. 
Hon Bill English 
: Has the Labour Party learnt absolutely nothing from its self-serving partisan treatment of electoral law which has led to the disaster of the Electoral Finance Act and why did Labour go ahead and appoint a committee to deal with something as constitutionally important as electoral law but fail to consult the major Opposition party and other parties in the Parliament? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: My understanding is that from the time the electoral expert panel idea was mentioned as something that could be done—I think it was part of a Green Party initiative agreed to in the Budget process—the National Party pronounced itself against it. So there would be little point in consulting would there not? 
Hon Bill English 
: Can the Government confirm that it has appointed as the leader of the expert panel Associate Professor Andrew Geddis New Zealand’s leading academic proponent of State funding and why does the Government not own up to the fact that it has done that in order to avoid discussing during the campaign Labour’s policy which is State funding because it knows that that policy is very unpopular with the public? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: I do not know associate law professor Andrew Geddis to be the nation’s leading advocate on State funding but I do know that 20 years ago the royal commission suggested that State funding was not a bad idea; and perhaps Andrew Geddis has read that report. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Is the Minister confident that the Electoral Finance Act did enough to clean up money-laundering by secret trusts that some parties have engaged in—some very well and some less skilfully—or does the Minister agree with the Greens that there are many outstanding issues regarding anonymous donations and electoral finance that clearly need reviewing outside of this House by an independent citizens forum? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: My view is that the latter assessment is the one that is worth proceeding with and indeed that is part of the terms of reference. It includes certainly whether we should have the same or different funding models for political parties; or if there is to be State funding how that would be allocated. But also it has a recommendation to take a look at any issues with the current system of funding elections and political parties to see whether the Greens’ proposition is one that comes through the test. 
Hon Bill English 
: Is the Minister aware of the longstanding convention that no Government makes significant appointments within 3 months of an election and why did Labour proceed to make appointments to that important committee in yet another example of its consistent breach of that longstanding convention simply to give jobs to its mates? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: Yes I am aware of the convention. That convention is managed on the advice of the Cabinet Office and to my knowledge that advice is always taken. 
Hon Bill English 
: Can the Minister now confirm that starting with the pledge card debacle after the 2005 election Labour has persisted with its blatant partisan attempt to screw the scrum on electoral law and that it wants to avoid having to tell the public in the election campaign that it favours State funding so at the last minute it has appointed an expert panel run by someone who can be guaranteed to implement Labour’s policy? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The member kind of makes it up. Why do I not put him out of his misery and say that State funding has been New Zealand Labour Party policy since before he left school. It has been that way all that time. So there is no particular surprise in it. However I think the member besmirches the reputation of the people who have been appointed to the expert panel and actually besmirches the citizens process that the Greens have helped devise. Those people of course have not even yet been discovered so it is a bit hard to criticise them. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Can the Minister confirm that the Green Party fought incredibly hard to secure the right of ordinary New Zealanders to have their say on electoral law through a citizens forum and if that citizens forum never gets to meet then the public will never get to have that opportunity to participate in electoral finance law reform through a combination of the reluctance and delay by Labour and outright opposition to citizens’ participation by National? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: My gentle advice to the member is to quit while he is ahead.