'Legal highway robbery' says Maori Party

TVNZ has a summary of reactions to the disgraceful goings on in Parliament, and they are revealing:

• "The Maori Party is describing the government's bill to validate election overspending as 'legal highway robbery'... [Hone Harawira] says walking your talk is the first principle of genuine leadership and that cowering behind the facade of legislation is the domain of thieves and scoundrels."
  
  Good for them.
  
  
• "National is telling Labour the public will never forgive it for passing retrospective legislation to validate its overspend at the last election."
  
  But it hasn't told the public that it would rescind that retrospective legislation, has it?
  
  
• "[Constitutional law expert Bill Hodge says he] does not trust the government and believes Labour could use the legislation to avoid paying back the money it owes. Hodge says it is bad for the government to bring parliament into the debate as it besmirches the legal system and makes New Zealand look like a banana republic."
  He's right on the money, isn't he.
  
  
• "The leader of the Libertarianz Party is not ruling out further legal action against the government. Bernard Darnton admits his high court case attempting to declare Labour's pledge card spending illegal has little chance of survival. He says the bill will likely spell the end to the action. But Darnton says he will be looking for other avenues to take."
  
  One of those actions will be to declare and host a 'Banana Republic Day' on the steps of Parliament at 11:30am today. JOIN HIM DOWN THERE IF YOU CAN, AND BRING YOUR OWN BANANAS & YELLOW BALLOONS.
  

UPDATE: DPF has a round-up of media reaction, and some comment on the Validating Bill itself.

UPDATE 2: He also has news that "Labour have explicitly voted to kill off a lawsuit against themselves." An emendment was proposed allowing Bernard Darnton's legal challenge which was voted down by Labour and its allies:

Clause 6A(1) Nothing in this Act shall affect the High Court proceedings of Darnton v Clark dated 29 June 2006 (Civ No. 2006-485-1398) in which the plaintiff seeks a declaration that the expenditure on the “pledge card” and related brochures by the Labour Parliamentary Party is a breach of the Constitution Act 1986, the Public Finance Act 1989 and the Bill of Rights 1688.

DPF's reaction says it all:

This is even more repugnant than what Muldoon did as he did not stand to personally benefit from his actions in Fitzgerald v Muldoon. This also cements in place the big lie that Labour pushes that the Auditor-General changed the rules. The AG is adamant he did not, and this lawsuit would have allowed a Judge to decide whether or not the pledge card was legal under the current rules.

LINKS: Election bill "legal highway robbery" - TVNZ
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RELATED: Politics-NZ, Darnton V Clark, Constitution, Law, Politics-Labour