NZ Politics Daily: 28 June (liberation)

The sleeping political issue of the year – electoral reform and referendum – is finally stirring, but is hardly fully awake. The launch of the anti-MMP campaign – covered well in the Vernon Small article, Anti-MMP campaign attacked – has long been anticipated by politicos, but feared by few of the pro-MMP crowd. That’s because there appears to be no real public momentum behind any of the alternatives to the status quo, and the public referendum is seen by many to be a foregone conclusion. The Vote for Change campaign doesn’t look likely to change that, with a fairly unimpressive launch and little purported confidence in any of the alternative electoral systems. It’s almost a shame to realize that we’re unlikely to have any really meaningful public debate about electoral systems, due to the fact that those leading the opposition to MMP are so weak. It’s an important topic, and one that certainly deserves a referendum, but without any serious input from the anti-MMP brigade, there is likely to be little informed discussion. MMP looks to be about to win by default. Rob Salmond argues that the ‘membership-driven, grassroots campaign’ is actually just a ‘two-person committee’ – see: Behind the Curtain at Vote for Change.

Another sleeper issue with the potential for creating greater public angst is the ongoing misuse of parliamentary taxpayer funds for electioneering by parties – as highlighted today by Audrey Young in her article, Nats, Act spend up large with your cash. Although the parties have passed laws to make such electioneering expenditure lawful, the public will increasingly see such misuse as a corrupt activity. John Pagani does his best to justify such abuse – see: It’s a great idea for parties to spend your money on policy pamphlets – but he probably does more to show just how out-of-touch the political class is.[Continue reading below for a full list of the highlights of NZ Politics Daily]

Below are the internet links to all the NZ politics material from the last 24 hours that are either informative, insightful, interesting or influential. This list and the links are taken from a fuller document, NZ Politics Daily, which is emailed out, Monday to Friday, to various researchers, academics, journalists, MPs and so forth. The document is purely for research purposes only, and if you would like to be on the subscription list, please email: [email protected].

Anti-MMP Campaign

NZPA: Anti-MMP campaign launched

Lloyd Burr (TV3): Anti-MMP Campaign Launches

Vernon Small (Stuff): Anti-MMP campaign attacked

Kim Savage (Newstalk ZB): Voting system referendum campaigns begin

Rob Salmond (Pundit): Behind the Curtain at Vote for Change

mydeology: Vote For Change lies: the “government nobody chose” argument

mydeology: Anti-MMP campaign fizzes to a start

Imperator Fish: In Defence Of MMP

Big News: Vote for Change – to what?

Rob Carr (Political Dumpground): Most Ridiculous Thing Ever

Trevor Mallard (Red Alert): Lusk and Williams out themselves