Showing posts with label electoral finance act. Show all posts
Showing posts with label electoral finance act. Show all posts

Friday, February 13, 2009

Democracy at work: Electoral Finance Act almost gone

Those of you who took the time to March against the Electoral Finance Act in 2007 and last year it is time to pat yourselves on the back (sound of me typing with one finger).

This law was the biggest affrontery against democracy since Labour ditched the Privy Council and before that hater of freedom, we all know who she is, ditched the anti-smacking referendum because she didn't want to lose an election.

We now have the leader of that protest movement John Boscowan, in Parliament and Labour retreating, again, in the face of another one of their laws biting the dust.

It is clear that they still don't get the reasons for their landslide loss last November and this is as far as David Parker, former minister of the fantasy post of "Climate Change" is willing to concede:

"So we do concede that there are imperfections with the existing law, that it did produce an overly complicated regime, that it can be improved."  nzherald.co.nz

That is putting it mildly.

What the EFA did was cause confusion, stifle debate to almost silence and lead to Labour breaking their own law because they thought, as usual that they were above it.

Again, congratulations marchers.

We won!

* I thought the picture was appropriate, if not a little gratuitous, but hey I'm a sucker for a pretty face.

Related Amazon Reading

Protest, Repression and Political Regimes: An Empirical Investigation (Security and Governance)Protest, Repression and Political Regimes: An Empirical Investigation (Security and Governance) by Sabine C. Carey 
Buy new: $126.67 / Used from: $165.98
Not yet published

c Political Animal 2009

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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Labour's taxpayer funded election supported by their Electoral Finance Act

In 2005 Labour stole over $800,000 of your money to print pledge cards to buy the election that year and when taken to task decided to change the law retrospectively to make what they did legal.


December 2007 the Electoral Finance Act was passed by Labour and its lap dogs in Parliament.

The law was sloppy, badly drafted, contradictory, anti free speech, impossible to use clearly and favoured the incumbent government in an election year, in terms of election funding and right to speak freely.

Less than 3 weeks before the 2008 election and it is 2005 all over again, except this time the passing of the EFA means that what was illegal in 2005 is now legal.

The contentious issue in 2008 is Labour's "information kit for the over-60s", a 50 page volume (it ain't a pamphlet as Labour call it) that has cost taxpayers more than $60,000 when you include postage and other costs and has gone out to 64,000 oldies.

My argument here isn't about the fact of whether or not it is electioneering at taxpayer expense because it clearly is, what is in question is the passing of the EFA by Labour to make election advertising at taxpayer expense such as this legitimate.

The "information kit" was designed by Labour to circumvent statutes in their law that would otherwise deem it advertising and thus make the cost of it come back on the Labour Party not the taxpayer.

It is also clear that the part of the EFA that pertains to Labours ability to circumvent its own law is the only part of the act that is clear otherwise the Electoral Commission wouldn't have given the document their approval-even though they have previously said that the EFA was hard to define, impossible to interpret clearly and highly contradictory.

A cynical ploy to get around previous laws and allow Labour to do what they did in 2005?

You bet ya.

Not only did it make spending by legitimate third parties like the Brethren illegal unless they went through the expense and electoral red tape of registering themselves as a third party, in effect it made it OK to steal taxpayer funds to run your election campaign but for a willing individual or group it becomes very difficult.

Once again mainstream media is found wanting when it comes to questioning the Labour Party over what is now a "mis-use" of taxpayer funds and not the illegal act that it was in 2005, to persuade over 60s voters to vote for labour but in 2005 a legitimate organisation, the Brethren and the National were run over the coals for doing the same thing, except it was done willingly with private money, not hard earned taxpayer dosh.

It seems my reasons for protesting twice over the last year have been vindicated and I can only shake my head in disbelief as we roll hopelessly toward a Mugabe like dictatorship.

Monday, September 29, 2008

National to officially ditch the EFA

National announced yesterday that they are going to ditch the anti-free speech Electoral Finance Act which thousands of Kiwis protested over, including yours truly:

National Party Deputy Leader Bill English says all New Zealanders with an interest in free speech will welcome John Key's confirmation today that a National-led Government will repeal the oppressive Electoral Finance Act.

"This is a self-serving law, passed in haste, and designed to silence Labour's critics in election year.  National will end the farce."

Mr English is commenting after the release of the National Party's electoral law policy was released today. 

"The Electoral Commission and the Law Society have expressed serious reservations about the impact of the EFA on free speech and freedom of expression.  Labour has belittled these concerns.

"The Electoral Finance Act has been a total shambles and those parties who supported it are now all regretting they did so.  We do hope they embrace the chance to fix it."

National will move to repeal the Electoral Finance Act 2007 immediately after the election, but retain the provisions around the transparency of donations.

The old sections from the Electoral Act 1993 will be reinstated, and the Electoral Finance Act sections relating to donations, will be inserted into the Electoral Act 1993.

"National concluded long ago that there needed to be more transparency around donations.  We were genuinely surprised when Labour failed to put in any controls around donations when the law was initially drafted.

"We will retain those provisions from the EFA, and reform electoral law through a process that involves all parliamentary parties and the public in a fair and timely manner.

"When electoral watchdogs say they can't understand the rules, when the law society says the Act is stifling free speech, when MPs have no clear steer on what is an election advertisement – that is banana republic time.  This law should never have been passed and will be repealed by National."

A good clear policy for a confused badly drafted law.


Related Political Animal reading

Electoral Finance Act March Mar 9, 2008
Electoral Finance Bill Vote
NZ losses democratic freedom
Mike Moore turns the knife
List of MPs who voted for Act
Cartoon and comment
Auckland Protest against EFB
The purpose of the Bill is clear


To view National's electoral law summary visit: http://national.org.nz/files/2008/electoral_law.pdf

c Political Animal 2008

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

BILL ENGLISH.co.nz: Election watchdog says law is unenforceable

National Party Deputy Leader Bill English says the Electoral Commission has confirmed that Labour's Electoral Finance Act is unenforceable and has had a 'chilling' impact on our democracy.

"The admissions from Dr Helena Catt at a conference yesterday are worrying in the extreme.

"As New Zealanders head to the polls, the Electoral Commission is effectively saying it is unable to promise that the law will be properly policed or applied. That is the direct consequence of Labour's decision to railroad the law into place with the support of New Zealand First and the Greens.

"The EFA, like the controversial Emissions Trading Scheme, had hundreds of amendments that the public had no chance to comment on."

Dr Catt said of the EFA that:

• Implementation planning and process development had to begin while the shape of the final legislation was unclear. The significant changes to the Bill at Select Committee, and a lack of time between enactment and commencement also meant that interpretive and practical implications could not be worked through in advance of the law being in force.

• It is clear that having uncertainty remaining within the regulated period has had a chilling effect on the extent and type of participation in political and campaign activity … The meanings of significant sections of the legislation are obscure.

• The commission is not confident that it will be able to reach informed positions on the interpretation of some provisions within the election period, and notes that the situation is exacerbated by the legal reality that it cannot finally determine questions of whether, for instance, an item is an election advertisement.

"The Electoral Commission has confirmed National's worst fears. The voices of those who want to participate in our democracy have been silenced, and just a few months out from the election, watchdogs still don't know what an election advertisement is.

"When it came to election laws, Labour put self-serving politics ahead of good, enduring policy. With the ETS, history is repeating."

Seleted Political Animal Electoral Finance Act coverage

Labour first to break own Electoral Finance Act
2008 Electoral Finance Act protest
Electoral Finance Act March Mar 9, 2008
Electoral Finance Bill VoteNZ losses democratic freedom
Mike Moore turns the knife
List of MPs who voted for Act
Cartoon and comment
2007 Auckland Protest against EFB
The purpose of the Bill is clear

Links c Political Animal 2007 & 2008

Monday, August 25, 2008

Electoral Finance Act continues to stiffle free speech

The failure of the Electoral Finance Act is highlighted once again. The Electoral Commission are not even able to give clear advice on how to exercise the law in the example below-even the best lawyers are confused.

The Act was passed into law late in 2007 and came into effect on Jan 1 2008. It was rushed through with multiple amendments. Even the Minister responsible for it, Annette King, doesn't understand how it works.

It was passed anyway, to stop dissenting opinion against an incumbent Government, in this case the Labour Government.

An Act well engineered to be in place in Mugabe's Zimbabwe, simply because it is anti democratic and anti free speech.


By SUSAN PEPPERELL - Sunday Star Times Sunday, 24 August 2008

Lobby group the Sensible Sentencing Trust is planning to defy the Electoral Finance Act in the lead-up to the general election.


The group has decided on its course of action after receiving conflicting legal advice over whether material it intends to distribute during the election campaign contravenes the act.

Its decision highlights a common problem facing similar groups pre-election and one which has forced Family First to abandon a pamphlet drop to all households outlining the voting record of MPs on what it identifies as "important family-based legislation" such as civil unions, anti-smacking and prostitution law reform.

The groups say the act which limits advertising spending by non-political parties soliciting votes for or against a party unless they register as a third party is anti-democratic and stifling public debate.

continued

Related Political Animal reading

Electoral Finance Act March Mar 9, 2008
Electoral Finance Bill Vote
NZ losses democratic freedom
Mike Moore turns the knife
List of MPs who voted for Act
Cartoon and comment
Auckland Protest against EFBT
The purpose of the Bill is clear

c Political Animal 2008

Thursday, August 14, 2008

JOHN BOSCOWEN: Freedom of Speech Trust Newsletter-Edition 4

Freedom of Speech Trust Newsletter No. 4
By John Boscawen

15 August 2008

Dear Darren,

Campaign goes to the Sunday newspapers

We took the campaign to repeal the Electoral Finance Act to last weekend’s newspapers with full page ads in each of the Sunday Star Times and the Herald on Sunday.

The ads focused on the following issues:

1. Parliament ignored both the Human Rights Commission and the New Zealand Law Society in passing the Act.

2. New Zealanders have been subject to a form of election year censorship never seen before in this country. The ad itself had been carefully drafted to ensure that it could not be seen as an “election advertisement”. There was much that we dare not say and that was censorship pure and simple.

3. The Act has had a profound impact on how political parties campaign and many are afraid in case they overspend. Labour, NZ First, the Greens and the Progressives have all fallen foul of it. (With the Progressives recently having had an ad referred to the Police for possible prosecution).

4. The law regarding third parties is uncertain and complex and limits those who wish to be involved in the election campaign to spending less than half that recommended by the Human Rights Commission.

5. The promise of greater transparency that cannot be circumvented is simply not true. For example if the Vela family had ten companies each could give up to $10,000 of its own money to New Zealand First and this $100,000 would not need to be disclosed (this is not a hypothetical example as the New Zealand Companies Office records suggests that there are eight or more Vela named companies with a further five related to the Vela owned New Zealand Bloodstock group).

6. At the same time that Parliament severely limited what you and I can spend and do in election year it passed another law giving political parties more taxpayer’s dollars for their own election campaigns.

A copy of last Sunday’s ad is attached to this email. Please forward it to your friends and colleagues or print it off and post it on a noticeboard.


What needs to happen now?

The Act needs to be repealed before this years election otherwise the election risks becoming a farce, marred in legal challenges both before and after the election. As a very minimum the third party spending limit should be increased to $300,000 as recommended by the Human Rights Commission.

Dominion Post Editorial – Monday 11 August “System to suit an African despot”

Under this heading The Dominion Post has again called for the repeal of the Electoral Finance Act.

“The act must go. It has had only humour value since January 1 …..The act’s critics foresaw the current muddle. The law is undemocratic and the way it was imposed an exercise in arrogance.”

The Dominion Post is but only one of the newspapers that have spoken out against the Electoral Finance Act. The tragedy however is that it represents far more than “humour value”. It undermines four of our most cherished democratic rights

1. The right to hold free and fair elections.
2. The right to exercise free speech.
3. The right to campaign either for or against the government.
4. The right to be fully informed.


High Court grants strike out application in our case against the Attorney General

Late last year Garth McVicar spokesperson for the Sensible Sentencing Trust, the late Graham Stairmand, then national president of the Grey Power Federation, Rodney Hide, MP and myself commenced legal proceedings against the Attorney General, Michael Cullen seeking a declaration that he had failed in his duty to notify Parliament that the Electoral Finance Bill was inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (BORA). After the Act was passed we amended our claim to also ask for the Court to make a declaration of inconsistency, on the grounds that the EFA was inconsistent with BORA .

The Crown sought to strike out these claims on the grounds that we had no right to bring them. The strike out application was heard in the High Court in Wellington on 15 May and the Court delivered its decision in late June. The Court agreed with the Crown and struck out both actions. While we were not surprised that the action against the Attorney General was struck out, on the grounds of parliamentary privilege we were both surprised and disappointed that the Court struck out our claim for a declaration of inconsistency. The High Court also relied on an earlier case in 1992 and we anticipated that we would need to go to the Appeal Court to have this overturned.

We have decided to appeal this ruling and the appeal will now be heard by the Appeal Court in Wellington on 23 October.

While this hearing will probably be before the election, there is no guarantee we will get a decision before then, and in any event, even if we are successful it is very unlikely we will be able to argue the substantive issue before the election.

If you would like to read a copy of our submissions to the High Court on the Crown’s strike out application and the Court’s judgment please email me and I will be happy to send you a copy.

Please forward this email on

No one should be in any doubt about the type of censorship the Electoral Finance Act imposes. It does little if anything to increase transparency over donations that cannot be circumvented. Its real objective is to restrict the right of ordinary New Zealanders to speak out and to campaign either for or against a political party in election year.

Please take the trouble to discuss the issues this newsletter raises with your friends, family and work colleagues.


Regards

John Boscawen
Trustee – Freedom of Speech Trust
021 760 630


Electoral Finance Act coverage @ Political Animal

Tauranga Electoral Finance Act protest goes off
Labour first to break own Electoral Finance Act
Auckland Electoral Finance Act protest
Owen Glenn and Labour Party funding
Labour buys Tim Shadbolt's silence
Victim of Electoral Finance Act forced to shut down website
Extending a middle finger in 2008
Electoral Finance Act: The vote
Historical day as New Zealand loses democracy
Tuesday 18 December 2008: The death of democracy
Mike Moore turns the knife on Electoral Finance Bill
List of MPs who voted for the Electoral Finance Act
Electoral Finance Bill debate continues
Cartoon and comment: Winston Churchill Clark
Electoral Finance Bill: The purpose is clear
Electoral Finance Bill gets stalled in Parliament
Auckland EFB protest gets 5000
Christchurch March against EFB
2nd Auckland EFB protest
Wellington March against EFB
Auckland EFB protest March: Nov 17 2007
NZ Herald gets nasty over EFB


c Political Animal 2008

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Winston's silence is telling

It seems more than a little hypocritical of Winston Peters to say what he calls the "National Party having secret donations from rich backers to trusts and other intermediaries to hide when the money comes from", when his party has probably been doing the same thing itself.

What is even worse is that Winnie backed and voted for the Electoral Finance Act. Something that he and its other backers said would "stop big money from buying an election".

Peters and his party have clearly been given money from ex pat billionaire Owen Glenn, there are emails and other evidence to support this. Peters still denies that he or his party have benefited from any large donation from Glenn, "into his or his party's bank account", going to the extent of asking Audrey Young, from the NZ Herald, the journo who broke the scandal, to "check his accounts".

Of course Winston or his party may not have got money directly into any of their respective accounts but money from Glenn may have been paid into a trust account, his PR company account or any other trust that Peters or his party or members operate.

Every other party in Parliament do similar things but it is usually no secret when asked by media.

In the light of evidence that Owen Glenn did give money to Peters, at least through a related party, Peters needs to front up with the truth rather than hiding his sanctimonious hypocritical manoeuvres under spin and bluster.

Yet can bet that Peters would want the full picture from anyone else in his position.

It was his trademark when he was in opposition.

Related Political Animal Reading

Labour gets tangled in Peter's lies
Leaked Glenn Email
Winston got secret donations from Owen Glenn
Labour Party Election funding murky at best
Electoral Finance Bill: The purpose is clear
The Owen Glenn Story: Singing the same tune but hitting a bum note

c Political Animal 2008

Monday, July 14, 2008

Labour gets tangled in Peter's lies

The New Zealand public all know Winston Peters has got where he has today by stretching the truth. For goodness sake he is a lawyer /politician, it is ingrained in him to lie.

The latest truth expansion lies in the big story of the week, Peter's secret donations from Owen Glenn and his denial that he got these donations, after it was revealed in the NZ Herald over the weekend, in leaked emails from NZ First PR man to Owen Glenn, that they keep secret the money given to Peters by Glenn.

Winston Peters is in a very important position in the Labour Government, as Foreign Minister. If the New Zealand public cant get the truth about the Owen Glenn donations to NZ First then we cant trust him on important issues surrounding his position as part of the Labour Government.

Helen Clark's position is a tenuous one at best. Her party relies upon support from NZ First to stay in power. If one of her "insiders", in Peter's, has an issue over honesty, then what remains of her integrity(sorry to use the "I" word) is sorely stretched to breaking point.

Now we have seen the Prime Minister lie many times before, after all she has made it the centre piece of her Labour Party administration for the last 9 years. To allow Peters to drift in the wind(to Fiji this week) over the secret donations made to NZ First by Owen Glenn simply smacks of hypocrisy and is morally corrupt at best.

Considering Ms Clark and her Party passed their Electoral Finance Act last year to stop what they said were secret large foreign money donations "buying elections" then Clark must make her move on the top poddle and its party.

Clark does have a wee problem on the Glenn front though. Their Party accepted donations from him before and after the 2005 election and their party president Mike Williams lied about it earlier this year.

We deserve the truth from our Prime Minister and Winston Peters. We are simply not getting it.

Related Political Animal Reading

Leaked Glenn Email

Winston got secret donations from Owen Glenn
Labour Party Election funding murky at best
Electoral Finance Bill: The purpose is clear
The Owen Glenn Story: Singing the same tune but hitting a bum note

c Political Animal 2008

Saturday, June 14, 2008

I think I love you Sir Bobby

My faith in sensible, comical,intelligent "rich pricks" has been restored by Bob Jones and his promise to purposefully break the filthy, socialist anti democratic Electoral Finance Act by using his own hard earned dollars to mount an advertising campaign against the fascists in the Labour Party Government.

"This is the most despicable thing I think I have seen in my lifetime in this country, I really do, certainly by any Government... this overwhelms me. I cannot believe it happened." Bob Jones 2008

Having lived through the fascist Muldoon era of the late 1970s- to early 80s for Bobby to say that is really nailing the point home to those of you who are waivering on the EFA's intentions and the hatred that Labour have for the democratic system and those that value not only political freedom but their personal freedoms as well.


Political Animal Electoral Finance Act coverage


For those of you old enough to remember, Bob ran for office in the 1984 election just to oust National's Muldooon and succeeded. Sadly what he did back then by using his own money to run for office is now illegal because of the EFA and I guess that is one of the reasons for his current tilt at those in office.

Opposition from all sectors of the political sphere is growing against this Act and even Labour voters have been showing their opposition on all forms of media, especially the better blogs , talkback and when protesting around the country.

This blog supports Sir Bobby and will be keeping you all up to date in his fight to keep these knuckle dragging collectivists from inflicting more attacks on the freedoms of this country and its individuals.

c Political Animal 2008


Wednesday, June 11, 2008

JOHN BOSCAWEN: Freedom of Speech Trust Newsletter


Newsletter No.2 – Electoral Finance Act

By John Boscawen – Freedom of Speech Trust


10 June 2008


The Electoral Finance Act was passed by Parliament in December last year despite the objection of our Human Rights Commission, the New Zealand Law Society and all our major newspapers. The Act imposes restrictions on free speech far beyond what both the Human Rights Commission and the Electoral Commission considered reasonable. The Freedom of Speech Trust has been established to campaign for the Act’s repeal. Please feel free to circulate this newsletter to your friends and associates.

A tribute to Graham Stairmand

It is with great regret and sympathy that I acknowledge the very recent death of Graham Stairmand, President of the Grey Power Federation.

Graham was a strong opponent of the Electoral Finance Bill and he joined Garth McVicar, Rodney Hide and myself in a legal action against the Bill late last year. (See below).

His work for senior citizens was acknowledged by the presence at his funeral of the Minister for Senior Citizens Hon. Ruth Dyson, National’s spokesperson for Senior Citizens Sandra Goudie and MPs Peter Brown and Nicky Wagner.

I acknowledge his opposition to the Act, the support he gave me and the courage he showed in joining the legal challenge. I extend my deepest sympathy to his family.

Bill of Rights challenge against the Attorney General returned to High Court – 15 May

In the absence of a written constitution one of the most important protections we have to our democracy and to our rights to free speech is the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. This Act requires the Attorney General to notify parliament of any bill that comes before the House that is “inconsistent” with the Act.


Almost everyone (and certainly the Human Rights Commission and the New Zealand Law Society) agrees that the Electoral Finance Bill was inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act when it was introduced last July, yet the Attorney General failed to notify the inconsistency. This is hard to comprehend given the Bill required every New Zealander to first sign a statutory declaration before they spent a single dollar expressing any political opinion in election year. Incredibly the Crown Law Office thought this was acceptable and not inconsistent with the Bill of Rights.


Late last year I, along with Garth McVicar, the late Graham Stairmand and Rodney Hide commenced legal proceedings in the High Court in Wellington seeking a declaration that the Attorney General failed in his duty. We sought urgency.

The Crown opposed urgency and sought to have the proceedings struck out – so, in the event they were successful we would have been denied the chance to argue our case.

Earlier this year we updated our Statement of Claim to argue that the Electoral Finance Act, (as passed) was also inconsistent with the Bill of Rights.


The strike out application was heard in a full day open court hearing at the Wellington High Court on 15 May. Justice Clifford reserved his decision.

Tauranga Protest – 3 May

On Saturday 3 May between 600-800 people marched through downtown Tauranga opposing the Electoral Finance Act. The protest march was an outstanding success and was the largest protest seen in Tauranga for several years – certainly since the 1981 Springbok Tour, if not before.


The protest was widely covered in the Bay of Plenty with extensive coverage in the Bay of Plenty Times – which featured it as its main front page story on the Thursday before the march.


For their coverage, see
http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3771539&msg=email link.


TV3 also covered a full report of the protest on their main 6.00pm news bulletin.

Other Protest Actions

In addition to the Tauranga protest we have organized two recent protests. In the first, 35 opponents of the Act protested outside the Rendezvous Hotel in Auckland (formerly the Carlton Hotel) on 23 May where the Prime Minister was addressing a post Budget luncheon. Our placards called for a repeal of the Act and a restoration of free speech.


In the second protest, a small group distributed leaflets to the attendees of the Green Party Conference in Auckland over Queen’s Birthday weekend. We highlighted the fact that the Green Party was proposing a closer working relationship with the Maori Party. The irony was that the Maori Party had been a strong opponent of the Electoral Finance Act. In his speech to parliament on the third final reading of the Bill, Maori Party MP Hone Harawira said:

‘Yes folks, money talks, but nothing talks quite like the truth and the truth about this bill is that it’s nothing but an arrogant dismissal by this Labour-led government to deny the citizens of Aotearoa New Zealand the right to participate in one of the fundamental rights of any so-called democratic society: How you elect your government……. Money is not what drives people to vote. It is the truth’.

Our message to the Green Party MPs and their supporters was to show some leadership, acknowledge that parliament did not fully understand what it was doing when the Act was passed and move to repeal it.


More protests, particularly in provincial areas, are planned for later this year.


Uncertainty of our Electoral Law and the likelihood on legal challenges post election day

When I first began my campaign of opposition to the Electoral Finance Bill my focus was the impact of the Act on free speech and the right of ordinary citizens to participate in the electoral process. The recent ruling by the High Court that the Engineering, Printing Manufacturing Union people may be prohibited from registering as a third party because it is involved with the management of the Labour Party is just one example of the restrictions the Act imposed.


However an equally important issue has emerged over recent months and that is the application of the Act to the MPs, themselves. This is well illustrated by the Chief Electoral Officer ruling that Trevor Mallard’s car, painted red and emblazoned with his name and Labour Party logos is an “election advertisement”. While the trivial issue may be the car failed to carry the authorization of Trevor Mallard’s financial agent, the much more important issue is that the cost of his election advertisement must be included in his $20,000 expense allowance for his election campaign in the Hutt electorate.


The problem he faces, is how much and what cost does he include? Certainly the cost of the paintwork but what about the running costs of the car? - a form of depreciation allowance?

Trevor Mallard is now faced with the very real prospect of having to run a very conservative campaign, and spending well within his $20,000 allowance. The alternative is to spend close to the $20,000 allowance, and to run the risk, assuming he retains his electoral seat, of being challenged in court post election day on the ground he did not fully return the full cost of his car’s advertising. This highlights the point made by Professor Bill Hodge speaking at our Auckland protest in March that the Act is uncertain and is likely to lead to a number of legal challenges post election day with the final result of the election not known until well into next year.


Continuing Campaign

If you are concerned about the implications of the Electoral Finance Act on our democracy and on free speech I would be grateful for any support you can give to bring about repeal of the Act. In the first instance you can forward this email to your friends and family.


Financial contributions can be made to Trust at PO Box 42-267, Orakei, Auckland, or direct to the Trust’s bank account 12-3252-0039335-00.

Regards


John Boscawen

Trustee – Freedom of Speech Trust

Email: john@boscawen.co.nz



Political Animal Electoral Finance Act coverage

The purpose of the Bill is clear

c Political Animal 2008

Cartoon c Stan Blanch 2008


New grab by Labour at taxpayer funds comes with fakes included

The latest grab at taxpayer funds to prop up the coffers of the Labour Party election fund is reminiscent of the NZ $824,000.00 of taxpayer dollars stolen to buy the 2005 election by funding an illegal pledge card.

The juicy irony this time though is that the sanctimonious fools at Labour passed the Electoral Finance Act in 2007 to make this sort of sneaky rorting of taxpayer funds illegal although now this pack of thieves wont have to pay us back, taking a lead from Winston Peters when he refused to repay the $158,000,00 of taxpayer funds he stole to finance his 2005 election.

Political Animal Electoral Finance Act coverage



The 2008 breach involves an expensive foldout junk mail booklet that will be dropped in budget stretched households all across the nation bestoling their meagre personal tax cuts and large welfare handouts to the undeserved listed in May's 2008 Budget.

This is not the first time Labour have broken their own law, being the first to break it at the beginning of 2008 and now having several cases before the police and Electoral Commission for subsequent law breaking.

It goes to show, that Labour continues to have little concern with the conventions of democracy, law, respect for public money and full disclosure when it comes to electoral funding.

Lessons from Owengate from earlier this year were not learnt. Donations of money were secretly made from Owen Glenn to Labour Party coffers, again breaching the spirit of the Electoral Finance Act and other electoral laws.

The real kicker is that the photo used on the front cover was of a fake American Family, and taken from stock photos from a website. The photo has also been used by Rudd's Labour Party in Australia to spiel their propaganda.

Labour Party President Mike Smith is behind this latest scandal and he said as much when he last breached the EFA that he would do it again, and he has.

The fact that a fake family was used to advertise Labour Party budget policies, sneakily using taxpayer funds to do so, shows voters,especially Labour Party ones, that the content contained in them is just as one dimensional, and lacking in morals as the method of letting the voting public know.

Lesson not learnt from 1999 when Helen Clark signed her name to a picture she said she painted.

Pass me the bucket.


Related Political Animal reading

Owen Glenn: Snouts in the trough
The Owen Glenn story: Singing the same tune but hitting a bum note
Labour Party Election funding murky at best
Labour first to break Electoral Finance Act

c Political Animal 2008

Monday, June 9, 2008

New Zealand needs an open democracy

During my recent visit to Bangkok, I watched a whole lot more TV, for one reason or another this is a sad fact but I wont go into that here!

While watching various news product from around the world, most of it politics, I was struck by how open and free the United States primaries and the US electoral system were. Where else in the world would two sides of the same political party, the Democrats, would go hammer and tongs for 16 months against each other, throw every filthy piece of dirt, tens of millions of dollars and say the most outrageous things that would be the end of the most stable of friendships in the real world, in the hope that one or other individual would be able to challenge John McCain come November 2008 for the US presidency, in the most powerful open democracy in the world.

Related Political Animal reading

NZ losses democratic freedom
Mike Moore turns the knife
List of MPs who voted for Act
Auckland Protest against EFB
The purpose of the Bill is clear



McCain himself was left open to similar scrutiny, his private life stripped bare for all to see, the very marrow at the centre of his soul was open to question.

No matter the politics that one follows or ones own "world view" one cannot deny that politics in America is in a very healthy state, as defined by the process of selection of candidates,not necessarily the quality of the candidates-you only have to look at the poor political and personal records of Hillary and Barry Obama to see the genesis of truth there.

While watching the box I also saw reported other forms of democracy. The brutal, murderous and secretive dictatorship of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, where politics is decided at the point of a gun and more recently through threat of starvation, Thailand's "benevolent dictatorship" or democracy with a bomb strapped to it in the Hamas led Palestine.

Lying somewhere in between those extremes lies the New Zealand democratic system. Sick from the dog wagging the tail, extremist lunatics like the global warming fanatics in the Green Party, the racist propaganda from the Maori Party, the complete nonsense from Winston Peter's and his New Zealand First Party and the evil Socialist intent of the ruling Labour Party Junta.

We have individuals like Margaret Wilson, Winston Peters, Sue Kedgly and Jeanette Fitzsimmons who were not voted into power by New Zealanders, but by their own party members and they have made life and death decisions based on their own ill conceived form of personal agenda politics on behalf of all0p New Zealanders.

The epitome of how closed our political landscape was the imposition of the Electoral Finance Act by Labour government politicians last year. Unlike the openness and strident debate that has been seen in America for the last 16 months the EFA has led to a fearfulness of opposition to speak out against the incumbent Labour government, by New Zealanders, the media and opposition politicians alike. The threat to an open democracy where debate can be had without fear or favour just doesn't exist in this country anymore.

While Mugabe and Hamas use extreme forms of control to influence political and personal behavior to sniffle debate and the freedoms of their respective political systems and retain political control, the New Zealand Labour Party have used legislation to achieve similar results.

For the future of a good democracy in New Zealand we must reform our nations political structure in a way more closely aligned to America, where free and open debate reign supreme, if not our future lies closer to Mugabe's Zimbabwe rather than the open democracy that we once had.

Removal of the MMP voting system and repeal of the Electoral Finance Act will allow such a democracy to flourish once again and give the nation the hope that it deserves.

c Political Animal 2008

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Labour first to break own Electoral Finance Act

Political Animal Electoral Finance Act coverage

2008 Electoral Finance Act protest
Electoral Finance Act March Mar 9, 2008
Electoral Finance Bill Vote
NZ losses democratic freedom
Mike Moore turns the knife
List of MPs who voted for Act
Cartoon and comment
2007 Auckland Protest against EFB
The purpose of the Bill is clear


The Labour Party has been the first political party to breach the Electoral Finance Act, but it is to be let off with a warning, friends in high places I think.

The Electoral Commission met on Wednesday to consider whether a number of political pamphlets breached the new act.

It found that the Labour Party's booklet entitled We're Making a Difference is an election advertisement, and needed an authorisation statement.

The commission says that as it is the first breach of the Electoral Finance Act, it will use this as an example.

http://www.dontvotelabourcartoons.com/gallery/cartoon19.jpg

But it says political parties are on notice that any similar breaches will be referred to police.

As is usual with grubby, raincoat wearing socialists, it is a case of do as I say, not as I do and the state apparatus has fallen in behind. Isn't the example better made by prosecuting rather than letting the law breakers get off?

Absolutely. But we shouldn't be surprised of course. This bunch passed retrospective law to make stealing taxpayers money to buy the 2005 election legal.

There is still no news about the $100,000.00 loan made to the Labour party by Owen Glenn after the 2005 election and not disclosed.



Related Political Animal reading

Owen Glenn: Snouts in the trough
The Owen Glenn story: Singing the same tune but hitting a bum note
Labour Party Election funding murky at best

c Political Animal 2008

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Helen shoots herself in both feet

"Democracy of course involves elections but it also involves freedom of media and freedom of speech and you're not going to be able to have a proper democratic process and elections in a years time unless those basic freedoms are upheld."

Helen Clark Feb 26, 2008, on ousting of journalist by Fiji Govt for critiquing them



Tom Scott cartoon
c Tom Scott 2008 No Comment



Now, Aunt Helen has either completely lost track of the attacks by her this week on NZ journalists over things they wrote which she disagreed with, and clearly the passing of the anti freedom of speech Electoral Finance Act last year slipped her mind like a 175km an hour car trip through the streets of an unimportant small New Zealand town.


Related Political Animal reading

Helen Clark's slipping Teflon leaves her naked
Labour's Teflon in Tatters
Electoral Finance Bill: The purpose is clear

c Political Animal 2008










Sunday, February 24, 2008

Poll and Comment: Labour's teflon in tatters

The latest Nielson Fairfax political poll shows that Aunty Helen and her mates continue to slip further behind. It reflects an earlier Colmar Brunton poll that came out on Monday and continues an ongoing slide for the Godmother of the nation.

The downwards trend for the Labour Party and supporting political players rolls on. It seems since the last poll 3 months ago their stance on the Electoral Finance Act. An act that stifles free speech against the government and stamps on political funding to opposition, and their hypocritical stance over secret loans made to the party during the recent Owen Glenn scandal, that run contrary to their moralistic masturbation over the EFA, have really taken their toll.


Mike Moreu cartoon
c Moreu 2008, from Stuff , " The Loan Arranger"

The possible inclusion of a referendum to coincide with the 2008 election, will be a further reminder to voters about the other restraints of New Zealander's freedoms that these mad socialists have foisted on us over the past 9 long years.


Related Political Animal reading

Colmar Brunton Poll and comment
Labour Party election funding murky at best
Electoral Finance Bill: The purpose is clear
Owen Glenn given the cold shoulder
Snouts in the trough bent out of shape
The Owen Glenn story: Singing the same tune but hitting a bum note

c Political Animal 2008




National opens up 23 point lead - poll

9:05AM Saturday February 23, 2008, NZPA

National has opened up its biggest lead over Labour, the latest poll showing it 23 points ahead with 55 per cent support.

The Fairfax Media-Nielsen poll of 1088 voters showed National gaining 10 points on the same poll last November, while Labour lost 8 points.

Labour's problems don't stop there; support for Prime Minister Helen Clark has dropped to 29 per cent, down 9 points in three months, while National leader John Key is 15 points ahead on 44 per cent, up 8 points.

The Greens 6 per cent support meant it was the only minor party to hit the 5 per cent needed under MMP to qualify for seats without an electorate.

New Zealand First had 3 per cent, the Maori Party 2 per cent and ACT 1 per cent. United Future and the Progressives both failed to rate.

If the poll was reflected in an election-night result, National would govern alone with 69 seats.

The poll, taken between February 13 and 19, had a margin of error of 3 per cent

- NZPA

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The Owen Glenn story: Singing the same tune but hitting a bum note

The revelations over Owen Glenn and his murky donations to the Labour Party before and after the 2005 election have taken another turn today.

All sides are now saying what was reported in an interview with Glenn last week was a misunderstanding, taken out of context and statements made by Glenn, such as the assertion he made and was very clear about, that he was offered the post of Minister of Transport in a Labour Government by Helen Clark were light hearted comments misunderstood by the journalist.

Clark initially denied any such offer had been made when the proverbial hit the fan last Friday commenting that "...it didn't happen" but yesterday was reported as saying:

"... could not remember discussing the issue with Glenn, but if it had come up, it would not have been a serious conversation".

Typical Helen Clark backtrack stuff.

Followed by Glenn's statement to the Media:

"I was not offered a Cabinet position. My comments on this matter were light-hearted and have been taken out of context," he said.

"It is unfortunate that some comments I made to a journalist last week have been taken out of context and are now being used as a political football".

The blanket agreement now over what really happened seems a little too convenient for this reader.

As to the murkiness over the secret "loan" of $100,000.00 made after the 2005 election the fact that Labour kept it secret seems more than a little disingenuous when the money was gifted during the heady days of the electoral finance bill debate, where the contention by Labour was that political funding "should be transparent" and political parties must be upfront about just who is funding them.

Clearly this didn't apply to themselves.

So far this major controversy hasn't hit the mainstream media, The Herald, their competition and the blogs have picked it up but the TV networks have done their best to avoid it like the plague.

The media saturation over the secrecy of the Brethren donations in 2005 stands in stark contrast.

Parliament sits today Listen to Parliament (only during sitting, Tues-Thurs, 2.00pm , NZ time) and National must seize on this with both hands and take it to Labour.

We have a Government steeped in a very murky funding issue and their assertions over the Electoral Finance Act, that" funding must be transparent" must be given closer scrutiny.


Related Political Animal reading

Labour Party Election funding murky at best



C Political Animal 2008

Monday, February 11, 2008

Labour buys Tim Shadbolt's silence

http://dontvotelabourcartoons.com/gallery/cartoon8.jpg
c Blanch 2008


News out today that the Labour Party have caved in to the protestations of Tim Shadbolt over his promise to campaign against the anti democratic Electoral Finance Act should be no surprise to those of us with morals and standards.

Labour cut funding to various Southland education facilities because they didn't think anyone would notice or care.

Shadbolt, a former Auckland University colleague of a large number the current crop of Labour Socialists, including Aunt Helen herself, would have focused attention on the controversial Electoral Finance Act by publicly protesting, up until the general election, towards the end of 2008, so the fuse had to be short circuited and Labour backtracked by reinstating some of the funding. Something that Labour said at the time wouldn't happen.

It is a clear message to voters that the Labour Party are highly embarrassed over the Electoral Finance Act and will do anything to stifle the much warranted negative publicity over its introduction and inception on Jan 1 2008. An act that has already had a number of causalities, most notably the young man, Andrew Moore, who was threatened by the Electoral Commission to effectively close his website down because it criticised the Government-something those that voted for the Bill also said would never happen.


Related Political Animal reading


Victim of Electoral Finance Act forced to shut down website

Electoral Finance Act: The purpose is clear
The Political Animal marches against the EFB-plus pictures


C Political Animal 2008

Monday, January 28, 2008

Victim of Electoral Finance Act forced to shut down website

The first publicized internet victim of the Electoral Finance Act has finally come to light.

21 one year old Andrew Moore has had to take his website down at Don't Vote Labour because the Electoral Commission threatened him with legal action should he not do so.

Now those doubters who didn't believe this would happen and those that voted for the Act , should hang their heads in shame because an individual's freedom of speech has clearly been denied here.

Andrew is right. You shouldn't vote for Labour, The Greens, NZ First, Jim Anderton and the others who supported this piece of Stalinist filth and Andrew and people like myself should be allowed to freely say so.

Please support Andrew and others in the fight for freedom of speech. Go to his website here:

Andrew's Site

The message below replaces the previous content on Andrews site but he has a forum there.




Related Political Animal reading


Electoral Finance Bill Vote
NZ losses democratic freedom
Mike Moore turns the knife
List of MPs who voted for Act
Cartoon and comment
Auckland Protest against EFB
The purpose of the Bill is clear


C Political Animal 2008

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Extending a middle finger in 2008

For the first post of 2008 on Political Animal and just to poke a middle extended finger at the Electoral Finance Act, that came into force today, I am going to do something that I should be freely able to do.

Speak my mind about politics, politicians what they do, and how they do it.

I would like to point out to my readers that I could be breaking the EFA and risk a fine and or prison for what I am about to say.

Don't vote for Labour, NZ First, The Greens or the Progressive party.

Those that make up these parties are fascist, nasty and Stalinist and are freedom haters of the lowest form and they don't wish for you to have a free vote in the 2008 New Zealand Elections and you must vote accordingly if you want a free election.

Free speech is an important part of any democracy and that has now been removed because of the Electoral Finance Act and the aforementioned collectives.

Vote for either the Maori Party, Act or National, because they voted against the bill and clearly respect your freedoms as voters.

All together now, middle fingers extended!!

Wish me luck.

I wish you all a happy, free and prosperous New Year.


C Political Animal 2007

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Political Animal: Best and worst of 2007

In the spirit of this season and in the spirit of giving, Political Animal would like to hand out presents for those politicians who went above and beyond the call of duty to single themselves out for attention in 2007.

Lets face it politics is a dirty business, and politics has been especially filthy this year.

It hasn't escaped me this time of year, you creationists out there may have been looking for evidence of Darwin's evolution and modern humans relationship to our cousins the apes, and one doesn't have to look further than Parliament in Wellington to see clearly that some modern humans have failed to evolve and apes they still are.

Nail in Labour's Coffin


Emmerson NZ Herald 19 Dec 2007


In fact some in the Labour Party clearly fail to reach ape like status.

Anyway, that is enough of the serious stuff, lets get on with Political Animal's inaugural 2007 best and worst of Politics.


Man of the year

John Boscowan, for showing opposition to the Electoral Finance Act, putting his money where his mouth was and organising huge opposition to to the fascist, Stalinist, bill that will remove free speech in election year 2008.

His courage and conviction for such a noble cause, in the face of Labour lies and innuendo, where there is usually little courage and no conviction instills pride into myself and others who marched down this countries streets to fight for our rights to have our say.

Boscawan is an individual whose qualities are rarely seen in New Zealand.

He stands above all others.

Disgrace of the year

The passing of the Electoral Finance Bill.

Whopper Lie of the year (sponsored by Burger Kings vegan vege burger)

Sue Bradford, former Miss New Zealand and now Green Party member told parliament that her anti smacking bill wasn't introduced to stop parents from smacking their kids lightly to stop them from crossing the road without looking and then when the bill became an act she said this was the kind of scenario that the bill was passed for.

Best punch and bully of 2007:

The obvious choice for this is of course Trevor "The Bash" Mallard, for trying to deck Tau Henare in Parliament and then unwisely picking on several women state workers, forgetting of course that his boss is a woman....hmmmmm....oh come on Darren that is a cheap shot.

Wanker of the year (sponsored by Durex condoms)

It just has to be that best dressed clothes horse and Taurangas answer to Don King, the heavyweight boxing promoter, Winston Peters.

There is so much material about Peters in 2007 that puts him in the Wanker of the year category. His intellectual masturbatory "gifting" of $158,000 of taxpayer money to a children's hospital instead of giving it back to those it belongs to defies logic.

We all know Winnie and logic fast became strangers when he confused his balls for baubles in 2005 and decided to take the booty instead of smacking the booty of Clarke and co.

His curious affection for Condi Rice also has tongues wagging in Wellington and closer to home, the marital bed.

Leader of the year

John Key, the Leader of the National opposition party finished the year as the most preferred Prime minister and so did his party, by a country mile. He is a man who's time has come and 2008 could be his year.

Disappointment of the year

Once again John Key, he voted for the piece of crap anti smacking bill and systematically drove a wedge into his major support.

Hot air award (sponsored by Exxon Mobil)

To those of all political parties who continue to support the myth and lie of man made global warming and are heading New Zealand on a path of economic destruction and poverty not seen since the great depression and the poppy rush in Europe 400 odd years ago, for no good reason other than politics, taxation and control.

Fool of the year

Micheal Cullen wins streaks ahead of anyone else for this category.

A collective who is so confused by how economies work he thinks governments can spend taxpayer money and not have an effect on an economy but when individuals and companies spend their own money they do!

October 2011 will see this historian look back on 2008 and see that his tax cuts of that year were too little too late for the economy and also failed to have himself and his mate Helen reelected.

Quote of the year (sponsored by Carbon footprints)

"scumbag, scumbag, scumbag, rich prick.." all directed at John Key in the house in December and sums up in 3 words what Cullen and the Labour Party think about those that have made a success of themselves in life.

As long as you don't do better than anyone in the Labour Party, who are ironically mostly from very privileged backgrounds, then you are above reproach.

Micheal Cullen, extremely wealthy himself, not that here is anything wrong with that, should be praising those that do well.


Dope/s of the year

Nandor Tanchos and his party the Greens for railing against gambling, smoking, alcohol, fatty and sugary foods while at the same time advocating the use of marijuana and"party pills" .

Defies belief and conscious thought.

Perhaps the Greens were unconscious when taking their stance on the "ills of society".

Positive media stance of the year

The New Zealand Herald's stance on the Electoral Finance Act. Never before has any media got it so right.

Disgraceful media stance of the year

Russell Brown, John Campbell, Chris Trotter, Al Gore, Findlay MacDonald, and his wife and their mates from NZ's overwhelmingly leftist media pushing the spin that the left do so well.

Repeat a lie often enough and eventually people will believe it.

Racist of the year

Willie Jackson from Radio Live, who calls himself a "Political Animal", he is right on the last part.

Willie gets off on calling people who disagree with him racist while at the same time peddling something akin to the likes of Mugabe.

Little Willie, as his wife affectionately calls him, is also on the state tit and definitely has a face for radio.

To be avoided in 2008.

Caught in the headlights award (sponsored by Wilson Tennis Raquets)

To David Benson Pope for not seeing the car driven by Helen Clark, at 170km pr hr, speeding to cut him down for stuffing tennis balls in children's mouths 20 years ago while still a teacher.

Broadcaster of the year(sponsored by Newstalk ZB)

Leighton Smith, for saying it like it is on his morning show on NewsTalk ZB.

Talkback straight to the point and with intelligence, Smith took no prisoners in 2007. His education of those ignorant to the garbage extolled by the global warming zealots was a high point.

Essential listening for 2008. (back late January)

Loser of the year (sponsored by the New Zealand Labour Party)

The last but not least category is taken out by none other than our favourite Aunt, Helen Clark.

Helen takes out this years award for loser of the year for one main reason, although there are a myriad of others.

Helen managed to take her party from being ahead in the polls and her as Prime ministerial fave, to sinking any chance that her party might have in the 2008 Elections.

She got it wrong all the way through 2007.

The anti smacking bill, Electoral Finance Bill and the failure to be punished for stealing $800,000.00 of taxpayer money to buy the 2005 election were all black marks against her and her party.

The arrogance and high handedness and the dictatorial nature of her leadership let her down time and time again and even long time Labour supporters are questioning their allegiance to a person who would pass laws to stop free speech and interfere with their lives as individuals.

Political Animal wishes all its readers a very Happy Christmas and a wonderful and overwhelmingly prosperous New Year.


C Political Animal 2007