The Electoral Finance Act

The Electoral Finance Act

So it's almost 2008 so I thought I'd take this opportunity to remind everyone about the Electoral Finance Act.

Labour, Progressives, New Zealand First and the Greens voted for the EFA.
United Future voted for the bill all the way through until the final vote where Dunne said that they still thought the bill was good but voted against.
National ACT and the Maori Party voted against the bill.

From tomorrow I won't be able to suggest online that you vote for or against a party because of their stance on the Electoral Finance ACT, unless I was doing so in private communication (e-mail, IM) or on a blog (blogs received a special exemption like the media after DPF and others kicked up a fuss.

Essentially, that means that this this post would be illegal had I posted it in another hour or so.

Fortunately, replies in this thread won't be illegal (unless they say the same as me) so feel free to discuss the bill, just not anything that could be construed as encouraging people to vote for a 'type' of party.
If this thread just so happens to pop back up to the top of the forum the day before election day as a reminder, then that would be good. :)

So vote for parties that voted against the electoral finance act and parties that support the repeal of the electoral finance bill.
Vote for National, ACT or the Maori Party.

Welcome to Election Year - let the campaigning begin!

Peteremcc, this bill is the biggest case of sour grapes ever.  I am not going to register just to speak and I will say openly that I can't vote for any of the parties that passed the bill and it is my right to encourage everyone to vote for any party that will repeal this odious bill.  I openly encourage everyone to disobey this unworkable stupid law.

Freedom of speech getting kissed good bye. Dictatorship comes to mind. Who would ever have imagined a LABOUR party turning into a business round table dictatorship as it has in the last 20 years.

Yep and Mike Moore.
Just shows it's not just a partisan issue.

Whoops, I meant: "Yep and Mike Moor has come out against it too." as he is also an ex Labour prime minister.

I would have believed it though, he always looked like he was about to kick the bucket...those f**king black eyes!

well he's dead to the current Labour leadership anyway :P

Its a bit of a head scratcher, this is not the Labour I know.  I suspect a big drop in voting this year.

i suspect a big loss this year, good riddance to auntie helen

ahh touche

Now here's a bold prediction; the Greens aren't going to make it this year.

I am a loyal Labour supporter so I will never vote for ACT or National.

People need to think about important stuff like health, education, social services and the economy and not get tied up on minor law changes.

I do not want this country getting like the US where basically elections are bought by corporations, big money interests and it becomes a plutocracy. Hence the change to the law to prevent elections being a bidding war on who can spend the most money on campaigns.

So you'd rather pass a law that said only governments can spend millions, but the even the Girl Guides can't speak. 

i think what you might see this year is as labour falls behind in the polls is that people who have been voting green because labour seemed safe moving back to labour to try and keep them in power. thats where i see the greens issues coming from.

i'm in two minds on this - I don't want NZ going down the US route in electioneering, although it is an over-reaction.

However, voting against a party just because of this one bill is patently retarded

well cosimo our two major parties are so incredibly similar now, sitting a degree or two either side of centre so voting on one issue becomes more prevalent

This law  is democracy for some but not others, and that's not democracy.  Everyone has the right to free speech, including companies who pay taxes, religious groups, political groups that you disagree with.  Legislating against one part of society and leaving all power in the hands of the Government is wrong.   

It is now illegal for me to have a blog that says "don't vote Labour, they've stuff things up." If anyone denies my right to be critical then New Zealand is no longer a democracy and truly has a bunch of extremists in control.

Actually personal blogs have an exception thanks to farrar (kiwiblog) and a few others kicking up a storm and getting Labour to change it.

Shame they didn't bother to exlude other kinds of internet communication (like, say, forums!).

This is a good read:

http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2007/12/greens_vote_to_outlaw_anonymous_advocacy_on_the_internet.html

Disgraceful stuff from Labour, a last desperate act to entrench their power through cynical, self-serving regulation.

Truly the sign that this government has to go.

don't get me wrong, I'm no Labour-lover...but John Key? seriously?! we all know what he stands against (any Labour policy), but does he actually stand for?? i'd only vote for change if there is actually a better alternative..i just don't see it. Feel free to enlighten me (without telling me how crap Labour is) though...

Well, actually John seems to agree with Labour about quite a lot - just wants different people to be doing it.

Without turning this into blatant advertising, what about ACT?

Yes good old ACT and good old right wing of the National Party. They will not care what ordinary people think they are controlled by big business and finance! Thats why they always want to reduce safeguards that protect ordinary people like labour laws, unions, environmental controls, consumer protection, etc etc and then give the money they save in tax cuts to the already rich. Great!!

I predict a National/ACT gov will allow our coasts to become a developers paradise so that overseas people with money can build huge luxury "baches" all along our coast. All in the name of "freedom".

Care to point to which policies (ACT or National) would do all these terrible things, because I wouldn't like to see this happen either.

Unfortunately I suspect you just don't understand how it works.


Incidentally, it is Labour that has been increasing taxes on the people (of all income levels) and reducing taxes on businesses...

Way to show your ignorance Orpewise. 

It's not just taxes.
Look at the student loan scheme...

Seems like a great idea, let's give students (like me) interest free student loans.

But if you actually thinking about it, you're using truck drivers and nurses and teachers taxes to pay for me to go to university to get a good education to get a high paying job. And that's what caring, sharing, Labour are doing.

i have just one hideous, almost-unmentionable thing to say about almost complete market deregulation: Wal-mart.
Cosimo2008-01-22 17:34:07

1. teachers need tertiary education too

2. why are truck drivers so great? because they have "real" jobs?

3. take a look at Japan if you don't think education is important economically

4. i'd gladly pay an extra 10cents to the dollar in tax from my measly paycheck if it means i can get free/cheap healthcare

Dear Peter whatsit...tell the nats or family first or whoever else you run with-perhaps the namby pampy bunch of alarmists the NEW ZEALAND (auckland) Herald that if they want votes on a soccer website they should tell us how they are going to support soccer in NZ...perhaps a few awesome stadiums in the centre of town on the waterfront could come in handy...

how what works? don't tell me you believe in the "trickle-down" theory of wealth..when has that ever worked in reality?

i think hager makes the point well in hollow men and reiterated it when he spoke at a lecture of mine that the nats arent the only ones getting big money from contributors who thus want to shape policy. i havnt understood through all this discussion that national getting money from right wing groups and big business who are there natural supporters is any different from labour getting money from the unions who are there natural supporters.

another big misconception.

walmart is terrible, i completely agree, but at least people have a choice.

if you want cheap goods you can go get them, if you want quality goods you can get them too (and pay for them).

in the past, the expensive goods were the only ones you could get (which hurts the poor more than the rich) and even the expensive goods were often of poor quality.

it would be great if everyone could afford to go shopping at high end department stores and boutiques, but they can't. walmart is better than nothing.

then that kinda cancels out, doesn't it? i just don't get the point that we need change, when, as someone pointed out, The Nats have similar policies to Labour, and no great plans of their own that I know off...i'm still waiting for someone to tell me...is it just tax cuts?

Interesting that the coastal sell off has occurred under Labour and that the EFA just happens to allow Labour's biggest donor to carry on, even though he hasn't lived here for 40 years.  Talk of Nats vs Labour is just a diversion from the real issue.

I'm listing examples of jobs that tend to have lower incomes, who are paying for me to go to university.

teachers need tertiary education. But, they don't need interest free loans, they need higher salaries so they can pay off the loan quickly and continue to earn more afterwards. (this also has the added bonus of attracting higher quality teachers as well).

as for healthcare... you're already paying an extra 10c in the dollar and not getting the healthcare provided. should we just keep increasing tax until we fix healthcare? normally it's the leftys that are always going on about how money isn't the problem, money doesn't buy happiness etc... whats needed is a better system, not more money.

Good call Edward. Every debate I have seen about the issue turns into a my team versus your team thing.

Bad legislation is bad legislation. Even if it's your 'team'.

we are in the OFF TOPIC section...

as for stadiums, look at the mess the government has made of the stadium situation in auckland.

are you seriously telling me that you'd rather let the government build us a new stadium than someone like Terry who knows what he's doing?