THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION: THE ROLE FOR PARLIAMENT
Free elections In the 50th
Parliament, I served as
Deputy Chair of the Justice and Electoral Select Committee. A significant set of responsibilities that Committee is charged with after each general election is to review the electoral law and processes, identify flaws and suggest improvements.
There are some fundamental conditions for free and fair elections. Elections should ideally be incapable of being rigged. Campaign financing and spending rules should provide a level playing field for a contest of ideas rather than of bank balances. Policy outcomes must not be able to be bought by companies or lobby groups. And the integrity of the vote counting and voter registration administrative systems is paramount. The ability to elect, or remove, a government is a key factor in being perceived as an
incorrupt country: and it is right and proper that the rules are regularly checked to ensure they are up to the job.
Striking the right balance with our proposals for amendments to electoral law was not always easy. For instance, we have long enjoyed a high-trust system where it is very easy for voters to cast their ballot. There has never been a requirement in New Zealand for voters to carry passports or other such identity documents to voting booths. At the same time, concerns existed as to the possibility of (admittedly very low-level) voter fraud by impersonation beginning to undermine trust in the electoral system. So, we achieved cross- party agreement that, unless they suffered a disability or a language issue which precluded it, voters presenting without an EasyVote registration card would at least have to point to
their names in the electoral roll and verbally identify themselves as being that person to the returning officer.
Those casting ‘special votes’ outside their home constituencies have to sign statutory declarations swearing they are who they say they are. And electronic voting systems, which have proved easily rigged in other jurisdictions and do nothing to promote turn-out, have been avoided. The resulting amendments, in the Electoral Amendment Act 2014, were largely uncontroversial – and incorporated such updates as including loans to political parties (and any interest write-offs that may be given on such loans) as donations within the campaign finance regime.
An impartial and non- conflicted judiciary
Another significant issue which
was dealt with by the Justice and Electoral Committee was a complete rewrite of the Judicature Act 1908, which puts in place the fundamental underpinnings of New Zealand’s court system. There was far too much content in the over 1,200 pages of legislation which the Committee extensively re-drafted to cover at length here, but a key point around corruption should be noted. The Committee felt it important to avoid any perception of political interference in judicial decisions, so the rules that govern the appointment, terms of service, remuneration, retirement and removal of judges on any court bench were very carefully considered.
We also focused on the judicial disclosure of pecuniary interests regime. There was no clear cut answer here: on one hand, it is important to keep the
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