Gerry Brownlee National Shadow Leader of the House

19 May 2002

Enough is enough of Alliance charade

National has written to the Speaker of the House labelling the Alliance split a "charade" and asking him to formally put a stop to it.

National's Shadow Leader of the House, Gerry Brownlee, says in the letter that there is nothing in the Electoral Integrity Act that prevents the Speaker from acknowledging the reality of the Alliance split.

"The Speaker has said that no member has written to tell him this. Since Standing Orders are silent on who should notify the Speaker of changes to a Party, we are advising him formally of what we believe the situation to be.

"We have provided the Speaker with evidence that the Alliance in Parliament is only four members, not ten. There is no impediment in the Electoral Integrity Act to prevent the Speaker from recognising Jim Anderton and his five colleagues as independents. In fact, Standing Orders compel him to do so.

"We expect him to rule on this matter this week. But if it is all too hard, we request that he refer it to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee so that this current farce can be dealt with for once and for all", says Mr Brownlee.

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