Ding dong the fix is dead
Dr Cullen has confirmed today that their proposed taxpayer funding of political parties is dead (not buried though) as it does not have the numbers. Good. The amount of money they were trying to legislate to themselves was obscene.
The way the Government has handled this whole issue has been so bad, you really have to wonder if they are really really stupid or just really really suffering from third term arrogance. I don’t think they are stupid. The mistakes they made:
* Trying to jack up the numbers in private, rather than have a public debate
* Trying to legislate for state funding, while they are still yet to pay back the $800,000 they woe the taxpayer
* Proposing that all activity in election year by opposition and third parties be capped raising huge freedom of speech issues
* Allowing the proposals to leak out day by day in the media, rather than release a discussion paper
* Having changes which so blatantly favour Labour at the expense of National, they look like they are trying to rig the game
* Barely increasing the penalties for over-spending
I am not the only one critical. Read this post (and comments) from No Right Turn:
Theodore Roosevelt once referred to the US Presidency as a bully pulpit – by which he meant a superb platform from which to advocate for an agenda. Within New Zealand, holding the government benches is the best bully pulpit you can get. When a Minister says something, the media listen. The requirement for balance means they will seek out alternative views, but the government’s position will be reported, allowing the public to assess it on its own merits. Labour is systematically wasting this opportunity – and in doing so pissing away one of their biggest advantages. I don’t know whether it is stupidity, or the hubris of seven and a half years in office in an MMP environment which has led them to draw the conclusion that everything can be dealt with by negotiating with other parties, and that the wider public don’t matter – but either way if they don’t start actually talking to us and trying to persuade us of their programme (to the extent that they actually have one), they will receive – and deserve – a good kicking at the next election.