Ryall Tony: Appropriation (Parliamentary Expenditure Validation) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Third Reading 
Ryall Tony: Appropriation (Parliamentary Expenditure Validation) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:634;Page:5845] 
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) 
: 
 I want to pick up on the point the Hon Nick Smith made about the illegitimacy of this Government. The fact is that those members opposite are in Government today only because they spent three-quarters of a million dollars over the legal spending limit. The last election was a knife-edge election—every doorknock counted every pamphlet counted and every dollar counted—and the Labour Party used so much public money in addition to what it was legally allowed to use that it stole the election. It stole the election and those members sit opposite today completely illegitimate and without any right to sit in those positions. They used three-quarters of a million dollars over the legal spending limit to secure an election. 
If we read about a country in the Caribbean or on the African continent where the Government broke the legal spending limits then passed legislation to legalise its fraud this Parliament would be outraged. Well what is the difference between that and what this Government has done? It knowingly spent more money than it was legally entitled to. That money made a difference. Labour spent $14000 over what it was legally entitled to in each electorate. It stole the election; it is an illegitimate Government. Helen Clark and Michael Cullen sit there atop Government in New Zealand through an electoral fraud. Any other country in the world where a political party used taxpayers’ money over the legal limit to which it was entitled to spend in an election campaign would outrage this Parliament—and that is what the Labour Party did. 
I want to hear today in this Committee how much Michael Cullen knew about this overspending. How much did Helen Clark know? I think she knew everything because I read that Mike Williams said that Heather Simpson does not do anything without Helen Clark ticking it off. Well Heather Simpson is the person who signed off on all the electoral spending—she made the decisions along with Helen Clark and Michael Cullen that see Labour in this position. I have to ask the members opposite what they think about Heather Simpson’s involvement in this. Will Heather Simpson pay $15000 of her fat salary because of her and Helen Clark’s mistake? Dover Samuels has to pay George Hawkins has to pay—what will Heather Simpson have to pay? She along with Helen Clark Michael Cullen and the rest of the Labour Party campaign committee has now put that party in Government through illegitimate electoral fraud. 
If a party breaks the spending limit that is a corrupt practice. Dr Brash has produced evidence in this Chamber that makes it crystal clear that Labour knew that spending that extra money on the pledge cards and brochures would be a breach of the spending cap. When a party breaches the spending cap that is a corrupt practice and that is what this debate is all about. This Government sits atop politics in New Zealand through an electoral fraud. It is illegitimate. It has no right to be in that seat because it spent more on the election than it was legally entitled to—$14000 more in each electorate. It was a knife-edge election—every dollar counted every doorknock counted every hand shaken counted and Labour stole the election by spending $14000 extra per electorate than what the law allowed. 
What does the Prime Minister do? She sits there and says: “Oh nothing to do with me!”. That is what she said but she was right in there with Heather Simpson. I want to hear from each of those Labour front-benchers and particularly from the Labour Party strategist Pete Hodgson. Who actually decided he was the Labour Party strategist by the way? Helen Clark? 
Hon Members 
: He did! 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: He did? I see all the chuckles from the Labour members opposite—the heads are nodding they wonder about that too. But we want to know how much each of those front-benchers knew about this electoral fraud. This Government has no legitimacy. It stole the election and does not deserve to be there.