KEY POINTS:
Act leader Rodney Hide wants the select committee considering controversial changes to election campaign rules to work closely with the Human Rights Commission on rewriting the legislation.
Mr Hide has written to justice and electoral committee chairwoman Lynne Pillay to put forward his suggestion following last week's appearance before the committee by the Human Rights Commission, which wants the bill scrapped entirely and started again.
Criticism of the Electoral Finance Bill by the commission has been unusually strong, and has been seized upon by opponents of the bill as evidence of why the legislation should be abandoned.
But Labour is refusing to pull the bill entirely, relying instead on the select committee to make changes.
Mr Hide yesterday told the Herald he felt the committee could not ignore the Human Rights Commission's warning that the cumulative effect of the measures in the bill made it incompatible with the Bill of Rights.
The commission has said that if the bill was not going to be abandoned, the public should get the chance to comment on any proposals inserted into it.
Mr Hide said the process of re-writing should involve the commission closely.
The committee should instruct its officials to work with the commission, he said, and then invite both groups back for advice on the redrafted bill.
"Otherwise, it's too partisan," Mr Hide said.
Mr Hide is hopeful he can gain enough support from other members on the committee for his idea.
The balance of the committee's make-up has been altered by United Future leader Peter Dunne's decision to come out strongly against the bill.
Mr Dunne last week labelled aspects of the legislation as KGB-like.
While the balance of the committee doesn't affect the legislative majority Labour looks set to have on the bill, through the Greens and New Zealand First, it could upset the timing of the legislation.
There are accusations from some committee members that National - working with other members of the committee - is engaging in time-wasting to try to make sure the bill can't be reported back to Parliament in time for it to be passed by the end of this year, as Labour desires.
The committee has been working fast until now to get through submissions, but that could slow if opposing members of the committee band together to bring things to a snail's pace.
Mr Hide, however, said he felt the committee would be able to work quickly with the Human Rights Commission. "Let's work with the Human Rights Commission to produce a bill that is acceptable to the commission as a neutral third party and the agency specifically suggested to deal with the issues the bill traverses," he said.
