KEY POINTS:
The small parties took centre-stage in Parliament yesterday after months of words from the major parties as the Electoral Finance Bill passed into law after more acrimonious debate.
The debate featured a surprise u-turn in support from United Future's Peter Dunne, who said opposition to the bill was
at the point where "the average citizen" felt affronted by the law and it was now pointless to try to persuade them otherwise.
While Labour continued with its attacks on National and the Exclusive Brethren campaign of 2005, and National accused Labour of acting in "blatant self-interest", the hardest-hitting speech was from Hone Harawira of the Maori Party, whose opposition has gone almost unnoticed in the debates so far.
Mr Harawira criticised Labour of arrogance for continuing with the law despite opposition to it, and said it was not attacked only by rich right-wingers - it was also opposed by the Maori Party "with not a bean to our name".
Mr Harawira described the law as "fleabitten" and motivated by "the sweet scent of power ... and the refusal to accept the reality of impending defeat.
"We will not be party to a bill designed to put fear into those who would speak their mind, by forcing them to run the gauntlet of registration, audit, notification, financial agents, monitoring, reporting, scrutiny and penalty."
He said the Maori Party were "horrified" by secret trusts and the amounts spent on campaigns by the major parties in elections, "but I can't help but smell the filthy stench of hypocrisy from the Labour Party in this attack on the Brethren".
He said Labour's funding from unions was used to attack the Maori Party in the last election, it had misused public money to fund its pledge cards, and it had constructed the new electoral law through backroom deals.
United Future leader Peter Dunne also put on a show, making a surprise about-turn after consistently supporting the bill, saying public opposition to it could no longer be ignored.
Minister of Justice Annette King defended the bill, saying the Government had listened to concerns, and had made changes to improve it. The result was a bill which gave greater transparency to political funding which would increase public confidence in democracy.
National's deputy leader Bill English, who has led much of the charge on the bill, said the law was a confusing "anti-democratic drift-net" but Labour was blind to the plausibility that opposition to it was valid. "The Labour Party and Helen Clark cannot conceive of a public good that is separate from what is good for the Labour Party."
National leader John Key said the law was passed under "blatant self-interest" and it was "a sad day for New Zealand".
He repeated his promise to repeal the law if National was in Government, but would ensure a replacement was based on independent recommendations and done on a bipartisan basis. NZ First leader Winston Peters said Bill English was "posturing".
"Nobody is going to be denied a chance to speak up at the next election."
Green MP Metiria Turei said her party was proud to defend the law changes, especially the new restrictions on anonymous donations. "We have exposed secret trusts to the disinfectant of sunlight, and the Greens will continue to work for better electoral funding laws."
She said in countries such as the US and Australia, "democracy is becoming a commodity routinely bought and sold". However, New Zealand had ensured over 100 years ago that there were limits on spending.
ANNETTE KING, LABOUR
"This has been done to safeguard our democracy by keeping to a minimum the undue influence of money in politics. We want to protect the ability of all New Zealanders to participate. We must ensure that those with limited resources can realistically compete with those who have very deep pockets."
NATIONAL PARTY, JOHN KEY
Quoting US left-wing intellectual Noam Chomski: "We have to be prepared to hear opinions that we do not like from people we cannot stand on topics we might not want to debate. that is what participation in a democracy is all about. This legislation today is designed for one reason alone and that is to silence democracy, to reduce participation, and to put a legalised gagging order on the people that Helen Clark and her travellers do not like."
MAORI PARTY, HONE HARAWIRA
"Yes folks, money talks, but nothing talks quite like the truth and the truth about this bill is that it's nothing but an arrogant dismissal by this Labour-led Government to deny the citizens of Aotearoa New Zealand the right to participate in one of the fundamental rights of any so-called democratic society: How you elect your government ... Money is not what drives people to vote. It is truth."
UNITED FUTURE, PETER DUNNE
"The blunt truth is that New Zealanders have gone beyond caring about it's content. They simply mistrust it. ... [They] would be appalled if our election process ever got subverted by big money, but their mistrust has developed because they do not see this bill so much as a genuine attempt to resolve those problems as a case of political utu. Legislation perceived in that way can not succeed."
NZ FIRST, WINSTON PETERS
"There's enough free speech around to keep a small town running 24 hours a day, there's so much hot air. Everybody's got a view, from the All Blacks to, dare I say it, Nicky Watson. We have never had so much free speech. So why are we being warned every day by the National Party and their rich friends that this freedom of speech is to be taken away from us?"
GREEN PARTY, METIRIA TUREI
"It is somewhat ironic that those who purport to be champions of individualism and freedom of speech are the ones opposing the bill. They are opposing the principles of equality that their and my forebears fought to honour when they first arrived in this country."
PROGRESSIVES, JIM ANDERTON
"This Bill helps erect a wall against anti-democratic sale and purchase of electoral influence. This bill says to the parties that take huge secret donations: tell us to whom you are in hock. Tell us who you owe favours to, tell us what you're doing in order to get the money."
ACT, RODNEY HIDE
"If we are going to develop an electoral system ... and a set of rules that the citizens of New Zealand can follow ... we need a proper process, independent of political parties, that includes the people of New Zealand and then comes back for Parliament to consider."
