Hon David Parker
Spokesperson for Electoral Reform
July 5
Fairness, freedom of expression and transparency vital in electoral law reform

The most important principles in terms of electoral law reform should be fairness between political parties, freedom of expression and transparency, says Labour electoral reform spokesperson David Parker.

Commenting on Labour’s submission on the Ministry of Justice’s Electoral Finance Reform: Issues Paper, David Parker said Labour believed transparency is essential to achieving the correct balance between the principles of equity and freedom of speech.

“This is how we achieve integrity in electoral process. These principles should be reflected in every aspect of the law relating to elections.”

“To ensure transparency, the threshold for anonymous donations should be reduced to $1000 for both constituency candidates and political parties. Arguments against lowering the threshold are weak. They confuse the right to say what you think with the right to buy policy outcomes without disclosing your interest.”

David Parker said other principles in the issues paper – participation, accountability, viability, clarity, and cost-effectiveness – all helped to achieve balance and legitimacy, but fairness, freedom of expression and transparency were the key.

“Election rules should not advantage one party over another, or place barriers before new parties wanting to participate,” David Parker said. “And freedom of expression means electoral law should not place undue restrictions on citizens.

“Labour’s submission leaves the media completely free of any restraint,” he said.

David Parker said it remained important, however, that that the principle of freedom of expression was not used by wealthy non-media interests to “buy” elections.

“Labour doesn’t want to see the excesses that occur in the United States, for example. That’s why there needs to be transparency for third party or parallel campaigning.

“Third parties running campaigns on issues can spend as much as they like, but Labour is arguing that over and above a $100,000 threshold third parties must be transparent about their funders in the same way political parties have to be. That is logical and fair,” David Parker said.

The Labour Party continued to support some modest public funding of political parties as recommended by the Royal Commission, he said.

Labour’s submission can be found at:
http://labourparty.org.nz/efr

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