Well said Winston

Labour’s plans to secretly get a majority in favour of direct taxpayer funding of political parties has hit a snag. Labour, Progressive, Greens and maybe Maori are all set to plunder the taxpayer. But without Taito Field they have only 60 votes.

Winston Peters was the most unequivocal in rejecting the idea. He said it perfectly:

“You get support the old fashioned way on the streets and the hamlets of this country”

Absolutely.

The key for me isn’t so much taxpayer funding per se, but that any change must not be rammed through without an electoral mandate. Those parties who support it should campaign on it for the 2008 election, and if they get a majority then they have a mandate to implement it after the election (not retrospectively).

Labour is playing with fire by trying to do a secret deal with the Greens and Maori parties. Let me quote the normally sedate weekly editorial by the NZPA Political Editor, Peter Wilson:

Has the Government lost its mind? It is playing with fire by even thinking about legislating for state funding for political parties without the National Party’s agreement.

State funding would be a fundamental change to electoral law, trying to do it without the main opposition party on board would mean an unacceptably flimsy basis for change and a politically dangerous move.