Monday, March 26, 2007



Something to go to in Wellington

The CTU is holding a public forum on election funding reform tomorrow, featuring Nicky Hager, political scientist Therese Arseneau, and lawyer Andrew Geddis.

When: Tuesday, 27 March, 19:00 - 21:00
Where: Lecture theatre 1, Rutherford House, cnr Bunny St and Lambton Quay (right by the train station).
How much: Free!

If you're interested in the topic, I also recommend Geddis' paper, Rethinking the Funding of New Zealand's Election Campaigns [PDF], inthe latest PQ. Geddis suggests a combination of public funding, lowering the declaration threshold, imposing a $20,000 cap on individual donations, and transferring responsibility for investigation and prosecution from the police to the Electoral Commission to ensure that the law is upheld. I'd prefer a far lower declaration threshold (parts of the US require every donation above pocket change to be declared, making it very difficult for people to evade declaration by splitting donations), but its a good start.

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