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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Small parties most vocal about bill


alt tv/fleet fm breakfast news comment
Small parties most vocal about bill
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".

Hone is the 2007 Politician of the year for the Sunday Newspaper Brunch Club and he once again proves why, his ability to strip down the debate and speak unvarnished truth makes him a rare voice of reasoned passion. Yes there are concerns with money buying elections and yes we need restrictions from paid speech, but the self interest that fuels this legislation doesn’t make it the righteous and pious law Labour are pretending it is.

4 Comments:

At 19/12/07 8:47 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Read Hone's whole speech here: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0712/S00417.htm

Wow, Hone - I normal think you are a bit of a clown but this speech has more balls than the whole emasculated Labour/Greens/NZ 1st mob could muster up.

And Bomber before you go on (and on) with your new favourite phrase - "paid-speech" read what Hone had to say about that:
And for those of you who think that money wins elections – take a look at the good old US of A, where three years ago, billionaire Democrat Norman Lear and his mates, spent more than $50 million to try to push George Bush out of office, and buy the election for John Kerry. Well that didn’t work too well did it? George Bush is now President Bush and John Kerry is John who …?

And what about the senior Republican Senator who spent $42 million on his election race … and still came second.

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.


Compare this speech to the limp, gutless cack that Metiria Turei, Winston and Jim Anderton spouted.

 
At 19/12/07 9:28 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

50 million or 42 million is only chump change in the US of A election race.

Kerry is John who?... but we all know Bush is Mr Clown himself.

 
At 19/12/07 10:06 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

We all know who Helen clark is too, and Kevin Rudd and Gordon Brown and Hugo Chevez and Al Gore and the Pope and Nicky Watson, what is your point?

 
At 19/12/07 12:39 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Did Hone get off those charge of assaulting sick people some years ago, what about the disappearing money him and him mummy took.

People have short and convenient memories. Another family of dim, uncouth, crooks gets ahead in NZ.

 

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