Turei Metiria: Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Turei Metiria: Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:662;Page:10626] 
METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) 
: 
 The Green Party supports the Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill. I do not want to take too much of the House’s time this afternoon to talk about it but I think it is important to raise some issues that concern us that were not addressed by the Justice and Electoral Committee. 
The first was the issue that my colleague from Labour Lynne Pillay has just been talking about which is what kind of body this commission set up to manage our electoral process—in which citizens make one of the most significant decisions that citizens can make in any country and one fiercely defended and fought for—should be. How independent should it be from Parliament? What should be its status? We were strongly of the view that the new Electoral Commission should be an Officer of Parliament. I have read through the select committee justification for why that was not the case and I have been in other meetings where we have discussed this issue. I am not convinced that it is inappropriate for an Officer of Parliament role to be accorded here. There is a requirement that an Officer of Parliament provide a check on the arbitrary use of power by the executive and the justification for not having an Officer of Parliament system was that the Electoral Commission would not be responsible for scrutinising the executive. But in my view those two things are different. Being a check on the arbitrary use of power is different from scrutinising the executive. 
The purpose of electoral law management which is what this commission does is to make sure that the rules are undertaken fairly and in accordance with the law. The role of having a check on the arbitrary use of powers by the executive is to make sure that the executive which is the Government at the time and therefore has the numbers to make any law it chooses at any time it chooses does not interfere with a fair and democratic process. Why would we not enable a commission whose job it is to manage that fair electoral process to act as a check on the arbitrary use of power that could interfere with that process for something as significant as electing our most senior political officials and representatives of the people. We still remain concerned and unconvinced that it is inappropriate for this role to be held as an Officer of Parliament. We are very pleased to see that the independent appointment process is included so appointments to the Electoral Commission are made separately from the executive from Government—we think that is a very good step that the select committee has supported. 
Finally though we are concerned that there is no recommendation to amend the bill to give the Electoral Commission powers to provide advice and guidance on electoral financing rules. Today legislation looking at electoral finance has been tabled. It has been a murky area for many years with lots and lots of loopholes some of which were very recently in 2005 exploited by members of the community and by political interests to try to win an election through the use of excessive amounts of money. We know that those loopholes are actually very difficult to close so we must take real care around electoral finance legislation. And in taking care in building the rules we then have to have some certainty for all the political players—political parties and third parties that engage in electioneering and campaigning—on what those rules mean and clear parameters for what they can and cannot do. 
The consequences for political players if they breach the rules can be very very severe and could impact on the results of an election and the formation of a Government. That is no small thing. So we need to be sure that all the political players have certainty over the rules: what the rules mean how they should be applied and whether that party—whether it is a political party or a third party—is acting within those rules. No organisation is responsible for providing clear advice and guidance because the select committee has not given the Electoral Commission that role. That is a mistake. It will lead to the only alternative which is that political parties and political players will have to resort to the courts to determine the interpretation of legislation and the application of the rules to their particular case. 
If we go down that path we are talking about court case after court case. We see them every election period; they happen every election period. Some of them could be very very serious affecting whether a Government can form. These cases will have to go all the way through the court process to the Supreme Court level before they can be finally resolved causing ridiculous amounts of political and financial chaos and chaos in the constitutional system simply because we have not given the right and the power to make decisions that can guide the use of those rules to the one body that we can give it to. It is a hole in this process that could be filled and should be filled. If it was it would save considerable difficulty particularly at a time when we are still working through what the best sets of electoral financing rules that we should have in this country are to make sure we have a transparent and fair level playing field in the election of our Government. 
I think this is a serious opportunity that has been missed. There is no other way to fill that gap now that this legislation is to be passed. It will cause real problems in the future and we will continue to see those problems. We can only hope that the electoral finance laws that will eventually come out of the Justice and Electoral Committee when we manage the other legislation that has been introduced today will provide some high levels of certainty. But as I say there can never be absolute certainty in this environment. I think that that is an opportunity missed and will cause real problems for us in the future as we work through those rules. Nonetheless it is better that this is done. The reorganisation is good; we support that reorganisation and we will support the bill. Thank you.