KEY POINTS:
National is objecting to Law Commission chairman and former Labour Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer being invited to advise the select committee considering the Electoral Finance Bill, because he gave Labour an $11,000 donation last year.
Sir Geoffrey himself said last night he couldn't sensibly comment until he
had heard from the committee about what it wanted from him.
But he said the Law Commission had a lot of work on at present and if it involved anything of significance "we won't be able to undertake it because we haven't got the resources we're so flat-tack".
The controversial bill extends the period of regulated advertising in election year to virtually the whole year, and imposes caps on spending by non-political parties.
The justice and electoral committee made the decision yesterday to ask for Sir Geoffrey's help and it was announced in Parliament by National deputy leader Bill English.
He said that getting someone who was a substantial donor to Labour looked like "screwing the scrum".
"The intention of the bill ... is to prevent any substantial donor influencing the political process, and then, when the bill goes to the select committee to be fixed up so that it might do that, Labour then appoints one of its substantial political donors to influence the political process."
Sir Geoffrey's donation last year was publicly declared in Labour returns to the Electoral Commission.
Justice Minister Mark Burton accused Mr English of abusing people of integrity and high standing in New Zealand.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen then sought a full list of National's anonymous donors to the party in 2005 through trusts to determine whether any of them were making submissions to the committee "as completely independent, impartial persons".
Select committee chairwoman Lynne Pillay said the National Party behaviour was "all fifth form stuff".
It did not vote for the bill to go to select committee, its members did not go to Australia because they did not want to hear about electoral law over there "and now they are playing up over this". "What we are trying to do is get the best advice and the best bill we can so we have got transparency and accountability in electoral law."
Following a call this week by National leader John Key to rip up the bill and start cross-party talks on electoral law reform, United Future leader Peter Dunne said he would not rip up the bill but supported cross-party talks.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters rejected any suggestion that a multi-party approach should occur outside the select committee process.
