Bill English MP
National Party Deputy Leader

12 September 2007

Electoral Law Reform: Why January 1?

National Party Deputy Leader Bill English is giving Mark Burton notice that he should get some proper advice on why Labour plans to extend the official campaign period to cover nearly all of next year.

“The only reason he can give is that January 1 start date would give New Zealand a campaign period longer than the six weeks for Canada and less than 12 months for Britain, but so is New Zealand’s current regulated period of three months.

“Most developed countries have no election period and the UK has by far the longest regulated election period.

“The January 1 start date means criticism of the Government will be heavily regulated for almost one third of the entire parliamentary term.

“The public deserves to know why Labour believes such a draconian clause is necessary.”

Mr English says having failed to get a decent answer to his questions about the campaign period in Parliament yesterday, he will revisit the issue again today.

“I’ll be asking Mr Burton what evidence he has to show that there was inappropriate or illegal behaviour outside the regulated three month period in 2005.

“Yesterday, when asked, he could provide only a letter sent to officials seeking advice about campaigning, and that is neither illegal nor inappropriate – although the Minister now seems to think it is.”

Mr English has laid out one of the questions he plans to ask in Parliament this afternoon, to give Mr Burton a few extra hours to prepare.

“I'll be asking the Minister this question: What actual examples of political advertising, occurring outside the current three-month election period, did Cabinet consider were unacceptable when it decided to lengthen this period to up to 11 months?”

Ends

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