I have just read and signed the online petition "No Royal Assent to Electoral Act Violations" at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/nzgg/.
The Petition asks the Governor-General to refuse giving Royal Assent to this disgraceful retrospective legalisation legislation currently being rammed through Parliament. I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider signing yourself.
LINK: Petition to: His Excellency, Anand Satyanand, Governor General of New Zealand - Petitions Online
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RELATED: Politics-NZ, Darnton V Clark, Constitution, Law, Politics-Labour
17 comments:
I have signed it and have been watching it since then and it has gone up by more than 100 signatures in that time!
I'd have though it might have a larger snowball's chance of succeeding if it identified the correct act being retrospectively amended. How will the GG possibly know which bill you're talking about?
Incidentally, while I follow the reasoning, there is a certain piquant irony in all the libertarian names on a petition asking an unelected head of state to override the will of Parliament. Interesting times.
Yes, it has gone up rather quickly.
Over 2000 signatures now!
Lyndon - You play the game you have not the one you want.
Lyndon, it's all grist for the mill. The more stink that gets kicked up over this & the more unpopular Labour will becomes the more likely Helen will get knifed in the back by her own party.
True, she should be doing PD as many ot the people who've 'misappropriated' far less money are doing, but it's something to be getting on with.
It might also give Labour pause before it rams through the other legislation it has planned. Namely funding 100% of election campaigns out of taxation and banning free-speech by non-politicians during election campaigns.
Remember, things can get worse! Already the police under labour have charged TWO people for sedition this year!!
Time to push Helen off the Gravy train by any means necessary!
It's true that I wrote it up in haste and omitted to cite the main focus of the validating legislation. However, the wording is still technically correct, as the spending also breached the Electorate Act, and that is in fact the grounds under which royal assent should be withheld, not that taxpayer money was spent per se.
Farrar:"I have even said that some validating legislation is desirable and have criticised National's approach to the bill. What I am vocal on is the urgency and the killing off of the lawsuit.
I have also resisted linking to the governor-general petition".
One of these things is just like the other:
Labour
Greens
NZ First
ACT
National
United Future
Right wing bloggers
Sorry I have been unable to leave your magnificence alone - so to speak - once more.
I'm sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but the Governor-General doesn't have the power to refuse Royal Assent to legislation. In fact, neither does the Queen.
This isn't simply my view, it is the view of almost every British constitutional lawyer since Dicey; and perhaps even before.
2705 now. Not bad for such a small country.
Again Lewis,
It's not about whether the GG will do anything - because he won't - it's about making a stink. In fact it's about getting NZers ~used~ to making a political stink - something that most NZers ~don't do~ because they don't like to think about the long term consequences of political actions undertaken by the Beehive.
And that's hw we ended up in this shitty mess in the first place.
Lewis is talking bollocks. Royal Assent was withheld from legislation in Britain as recently as 1999, in Australia in 1976, and Alberta Canada in 1937.
It's a bit like saying someone doesn't have the power to refuse to sign a cheque - of course they do! They just don't sign it!
The power to withhold assent is listed on the Governor General's own website. If it doesn't exist, how come Satyanand thinks he has this power?
Indeed the power exists. It is one of the more important parts of his job.
Hear, hear, RW. *That's* what it's about.
Just topped the 5300 mark ..
Some things never change:
"Our government . . . teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy." – Louis Brandeis (1856 - 1941) US Supreme Court justice.
It's over 7100 now.
Just got a screenshot of when it hit 10k, posted it now.
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