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The Act needs to be repealed before this years election otherwise the election risks becoming a farce, marred in legal challenges both before and after the election.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

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

New grab by Labour at taxpayer funds comes with fakes included
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

c Political Animal 2008

Cartoon c Stan Blanch 2008

Tauranga Electoral Finance Act protest goes off

Newstalk ZB, 4 May 2008: More than 800 people protested against the Electoral Finance Act in downtown Tauranga this morning.

Organiser John Boscawen says the government legislation limits New Zealanders' ability to participate in the electoral process. He says six months after the Act was made law, people are still wanting it gone.

Mr Boscawen says it is the right of all New Zealanders to hold their electoral representatives to account, and this law restricts people's ability to do so. He says the Electoral Finance Act will be a major issue for people voting this election.

Political Animal: The Tauranga protest comes in the wake of Labour being the first to break their own law and with news out last week that the $800,000 plus that was stolen from taxpayers to buy the 2005 election was paid back with anonymous donations from wealthy backers. The very thing Labour pollies pointed the fingers at the National Party for doing.

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

c Political Animal 2008 / Cartoon c Stan Blanch 2008

PRESS RELEASE: Tauranga Electoral Finance law protest

This Saturday in Tauranga there will be a march against the Electoral Finance law. Below are the details from John Boscawen.

"We will meet on the corner of First Avenue and Devonport Road at 10.45am and proceed along Devonport Road through the centre of Tauranga to The Strand and up Hamilton Street to Baycourt. At Baycourt there will be a rally at 11.30am, either outdoors if fine, or indoors if wet. Speakers will include myself, Garth Mc Vicar of the Sensible Sentencing Trust and Hon. Ralph Maxwell, a minister in the Lange government and former member of the Electoral Select Committee.

If you live in the western Bay of Plenty it would be good to see you there. Alternatively I would greatly appreciate you bringing to the attention of your friends and family who do, the march and rally by forwarding on this email and encouraging them to attend."

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

Christchurch March against EFB: Report

The piece below was written by Andy Moore and republished at Political Animal with his permission. From the NZ Debate Blog

Proving that even South Islanders have some passion left! Good on Andy and the rest there today.



Approximately 350 people turned out in Christchurch today for the march against the Electoral Finance bill. Starting at 1:00pm at Victoria Square, we followed Bob McCoskrie of Family First, John Boscawen and a Korean War veteran, winding through the streets of the inner city, on the way to Cathedral Square.

Two of us carried blank signs, reference to the fact that if the EFB passes into law, it may become necessary for people to protest with blank placards to avoid being fined or imprisoned simply for speaking out against the Government or a particular party!

John Boscawen spoke powerfully against the bill, and passers by stopped and joined the rally. Next, Bob McCoskrie brought people's attention to the seriousness of the bill - and also paid tribute to John for the time and money he has put into the fight so far. Then we heard from a lecturer from Canterbury University who's main and most excellent point was that...

"This bill makes it a lot harder for the challenger, and easier for the incumbent Government."

An excellent point, which only then really hit me. Of course, it is obvious that Labour is pushing this bill through as a last ditch attempt to steal the election in 08 - I just didn't quite understand how. But the statement above puts it pretty simply and accurately. I will be looking round for an audio version of his speech.

At about 1:30pm we finished up with a round of applause.

A table had been run at the starting point in Victoria Square, and then in Cathedral Square to gather signatures for the petition calling for a referendum on the question: "Should a smack as a part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?"

Click here (www.unityforliberty.net.nz) for more info on the fight against the oppressive new anti-smacking law, yet another arm of Nanny State.