Did you submit on Winston Peters' anti-party-hopping bill? Congratulations, you wasted your time:
National's electoral law spokesman Nick Smith said the justice select committee looking at the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Bill was unable to consider any amendments nor get any advice from officials on key issues.
"Government MPs simply stated the bill had to be reported back to the House unamended to meet the demands of Winston Peters," Smith said.
"Not a single submission supported the bill without amendment yet the Government insisted it be progressed as is. The Ministry of Justice would not provide any views on the bill and simply stated it was government policy to pass it unamended," he said in a statement.
This displays an absolute contempt for voters, not to mention bad faith. If they weren't willing to consider amendments, why did they even bother asking for submissions? It would have been more honest to say "we're passing this, fuck you" from the outset - at least that way all those people wouldn't have wasted their time.
Shit like this is why I simply don't bother submitting on legislation anymore. The pricks in Parliament simply aren't interested in our views on anything that matters, and pretending that they are simply legitimises their charade. Better not to waste your time on their bullshit.
And of course, I'm a lot less comfortable about the Greens supporting the bill given this information. There's holding your nose, and then there's being complicit in an abuse of democracy. If Winston wants to force them to vote for this bullshit, he should at least have the decency to be open about it, and make it a matter of confidence so that everyone can see who is pulling the strings.
