Bill English MP
National Party Deputy Leader

24 September 2007

Pull the election bill, PM told as total re-write looms

National Party Deputy Leader Bill English has welcomed Helen Clark’s back-down on electoral finance reform and is urging her to scrap the bill, which is currently being slammed from all sides.

“The public will not have an opportunity to debate whatever it is that emerges from the select committee process, and from where I’m standing right now, that’ll be quite a different bill.”

Mr English is commenting after Helen Clark said this morning ‘I've been making it clear from the time it was introduced … that the Bill goes to the select committee, it's expected to be improved, actually a lot of submissions are fully approving of the intent of it, but they think the wording needs to be improved, and some other aspects like financial thresholds for when it kicks in need to be looked at’.

Mr English says Helen Clark is advocating a totally different bill than the one she ticked off at Cabinet.

“She’s advocating changes to ‘wording’, the ‘thresholds’ and the regulated period. There isn’t anything left!”

Mr English says the public are unlikely to get the chance to comment on the redrafted legislation again.

“In the end, Labour and its support parties do have a majority on this committee and the ability to railroad changes that suit themselves.

“The public won’t have another chance to express their view. If people thought the bid to silence critics wasn’t going to begin until election year, they should think again.”

ENDS

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