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31 December 2007
NEWS: Labour's political muzzle starts
Labour's clampdown on political speech starts tomorrow as Helen Clark's self-serving electoral law takes effect for an election that could be up to 11 months away, says National Party Leader John Key.
"When New Zealanders awake to greet the New Year, they will be subject to draconian new rules devised by Labour that will clamp down on their political speech in a way that hasn't been seen in our history before.
"The ability of Kiwis to participate in political activity from tomorrow will be severely restricted by the most onerous set of election rules New Zealand has ever seen.
"Tomorrow, Kiwis will know there's still a significant period of time until the election campaign and they will surely ask why their freedom of speech is being restricted so early in election year.
"The only logical conclusion they can come to is that Helen Clark and Labour want to control dissenting voices, so she can get a fourth term.
"Helen Clark's anti-democratic and self-serving Electoral Finance Law is offensive. It is an assault on free speech and an affront to democracy.
"The depth of feeling against this law is well illustrated by numerous newspaper editorials up and down the country. (see attached examples)
"Already, Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt, fighting against funding cuts at the Southern Institute of Technology, has said he is prepared to go to prison to fight for his right to campaign in election year on issues he cares about.
"Today he ran newspaper advertisements urging New Zealanders not to vote Labour at the election. He is not prepared to register with a Government agency from tomorrow as a 'third party' and submit to ridiculous rules.
"Our democracy is the loser from this law, which is why National will repeal it and start again in a bipartisan way. We will ensure there is genuine consultation with all interested parties, and the wider public, before Parliament votes on changes.
"Electoral law is simply too important just to leave to a narrow majority of MPs to decide. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened with the Electoral Finance Law – a narrow majority of Parliament decided with no agreement from the major opposition party, nor the wider public.
"Labour goes on about stopping 'big money'.
"But New Zealanders should know that from tomorrow, millions of dollars - of their money - will be funnelled through Government departments to advertise Labour policy in election year. Meanwhile, so-called third parties can only spend $120,000.
"Helen Clark and Labour have lost touch of the real issues New Zealanders are concerned about – like the hundreds of people leaving every week for Australia for opportunities they can't find here, our infrastructure deficit, crime and the rising cost of mortgages.
"National will concentrate in election year on the issues that matter to Kiwis.
"Helen Clark, meanwhile, will concentrate on clinging to power – even if that means eroding our democracy and freedom of speech."
See below: quotes from editorials
Quotes from editorials on the Electoral Finance legislation
"The Electoral Finance Bill's passage through Parliament late yesterday corrodes democracy and shames those whose names stand beside it as it enters the statutes. From January 1, political discourse will be less free, except for political parties – those private organisations that happen to provide the incumbent members of Parliament." – NZ Herald, 19 December
"The legislation is undemocratic, and the process by which Labour and its supporters have foisted it on the public has been an exercise in the arrogance of power." – Dominion Post, 20 December
"Mrs King told Parliament the legislation does not restrict free speech, but is about restricting the right to purchase speech through advertising, and that it was necessary to safeguard democracy. She is wrong." – Dominion Post, 20 December
"It was all too plainly designed not to deal honestly and fairly with an important problem but rather to shield an embattled government from any critical comment during an election year." – The Press, 20 December
"…from January 1, 11 months before any likely election, a firm engaged by the Electoral Commission will be conducting surveillance of political advertising to see that it complies with the law, something that will strike most fair-minded people as having the smack of Big Brother about it." – The Press, 20 December
"By limiting the amount so-called 'third parties' can spend on political campaign activities of any kind – be it support or opposition, saving the whales or completing Dunedin's motorway – the Bill is anti-democratic for it will tend to restrain and discourage dissent from those who wish to make such causes influential in electoral terms by advocating for or against political parties or candidates; it will thus tend to weight the balance further in favour of incumbent governments in election years." – Otago Daily Times, 20 December
"The public has, quite rightly, disliked the stealth and was, quite rightly, alarmed by some of the early and wildly anti-democratic clauses limiting real freedom of speech. This is not the way to make important constitutional changes. The voters will remain deeply hostile to these changes and nothing the politicians now say will change their minds. Labour must therefore scrap the bill and do it the hard way." – Sunday Star Times, 2 December
"Prime Minister Helen Clark has said that she has never before seen such 'nitpicking' over an electoral bill. That is because there has never before been an electoral bill so outrageous and so flawed." Listener, 8-14 December
"Despite the changes to what many of its critics correctly deemed irredeemable, the bill remains an obnoxious piece of lawmaking for what has driven it, for the disdain it has shown to the principles of freedom of expression and fairness and for the loathing and contempt that it generates for those who, in principle anyway, we ought to be able to show at least a modicum of respect." – Hawke's Bay Today, 20 November Tweet
"When New Zealanders awake to greet the New Year, they will be subject to draconian new rules devised by Labour that will clamp down on their political speech in a way that hasn't been seen in our history before.
"The ability of Kiwis to participate in political activity from tomorrow will be severely restricted by the most onerous set of election rules New Zealand has ever seen.
"Tomorrow, Kiwis will know there's still a significant period of time until the election campaign and they will surely ask why their freedom of speech is being restricted so early in election year.
"The only logical conclusion they can come to is that Helen Clark and Labour want to control dissenting voices, so she can get a fourth term.
"Helen Clark's anti-democratic and self-serving Electoral Finance Law is offensive. It is an assault on free speech and an affront to democracy.
"The depth of feeling against this law is well illustrated by numerous newspaper editorials up and down the country. (see attached examples)
"Already, Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt, fighting against funding cuts at the Southern Institute of Technology, has said he is prepared to go to prison to fight for his right to campaign in election year on issues he cares about.
"Today he ran newspaper advertisements urging New Zealanders not to vote Labour at the election. He is not prepared to register with a Government agency from tomorrow as a 'third party' and submit to ridiculous rules.
"Our democracy is the loser from this law, which is why National will repeal it and start again in a bipartisan way. We will ensure there is genuine consultation with all interested parties, and the wider public, before Parliament votes on changes.
"Electoral law is simply too important just to leave to a narrow majority of MPs to decide. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened with the Electoral Finance Law – a narrow majority of Parliament decided with no agreement from the major opposition party, nor the wider public.
"Labour goes on about stopping 'big money'.
"But New Zealanders should know that from tomorrow, millions of dollars - of their money - will be funnelled through Government departments to advertise Labour policy in election year. Meanwhile, so-called third parties can only spend $120,000.
"Helen Clark and Labour have lost touch of the real issues New Zealanders are concerned about – like the hundreds of people leaving every week for Australia for opportunities they can't find here, our infrastructure deficit, crime and the rising cost of mortgages.
"National will concentrate in election year on the issues that matter to Kiwis.
"Helen Clark, meanwhile, will concentrate on clinging to power – even if that means eroding our democracy and freedom of speech."
See below: quotes from editorials
Quotes from editorials on the Electoral Finance legislation
"The Electoral Finance Bill's passage through Parliament late yesterday corrodes democracy and shames those whose names stand beside it as it enters the statutes. From January 1, political discourse will be less free, except for political parties – those private organisations that happen to provide the incumbent members of Parliament." – NZ Herald, 19 December
"The legislation is undemocratic, and the process by which Labour and its supporters have foisted it on the public has been an exercise in the arrogance of power." – Dominion Post, 20 December
"Mrs King told Parliament the legislation does not restrict free speech, but is about restricting the right to purchase speech through advertising, and that it was necessary to safeguard democracy. She is wrong." – Dominion Post, 20 December
"It was all too plainly designed not to deal honestly and fairly with an important problem but rather to shield an embattled government from any critical comment during an election year." – The Press, 20 December
"…from January 1, 11 months before any likely election, a firm engaged by the Electoral Commission will be conducting surveillance of political advertising to see that it complies with the law, something that will strike most fair-minded people as having the smack of Big Brother about it." – The Press, 20 December
"By limiting the amount so-called 'third parties' can spend on political campaign activities of any kind – be it support or opposition, saving the whales or completing Dunedin's motorway – the Bill is anti-democratic for it will tend to restrain and discourage dissent from those who wish to make such causes influential in electoral terms by advocating for or against political parties or candidates; it will thus tend to weight the balance further in favour of incumbent governments in election years." – Otago Daily Times, 20 December
"The public has, quite rightly, disliked the stealth and was, quite rightly, alarmed by some of the early and wildly anti-democratic clauses limiting real freedom of speech. This is not the way to make important constitutional changes. The voters will remain deeply hostile to these changes and nothing the politicians now say will change their minds. Labour must therefore scrap the bill and do it the hard way." – Sunday Star Times, 2 December
"Prime Minister Helen Clark has said that she has never before seen such 'nitpicking' over an electoral bill. That is because there has never before been an electoral bill so outrageous and so flawed." Listener, 8-14 December
"Despite the changes to what many of its critics correctly deemed irredeemable, the bill remains an obnoxious piece of lawmaking for what has driven it, for the disdain it has shown to the principles of freedom of expression and fairness and for the loathing and contempt that it generates for those who, in principle anyway, we ought to be able to show at least a modicum of respect." – Hawke's Bay Today, 20 November Tweet
