Friday, April 23, 2010



Submit!

The Electoral Legislation Committee has called for submissions on the Electoral Referendum Bill. Two copies, by Thursday, 10 June 2010, to

Electoral Legislation Committee Secretariat
Parliament Buildings
Wellington
Or you can use the online form above.

The bill establishes the framework for next year's referendum on MMP. The key point of controversy is the advertising regime in part 3, which sets no spending caps, and does not even require large advertisers to disclose how much they are spending to try and buy the outcome. The regime seems designed to produce a repeat of 1993, when Peter Shirtcliffe spent millions in his efforts to keep FPP - and almost succeeded. But rather than take that as a warning sign, the government seems to want it to happen again.

Submitting is easy, and select committees do pay attention. If you're not sure how to make a submission, Parliament has a handy guide in English and Maori here.