cronyism at its worst

DPF alerts everyone to the fact that Val Sim has been appointed to the Law Commission by Mark Burton. You`ve never heard of her but you know what she has done.

She made the decision that Burton's Electoral Finance Bill does not breach the Bill of Rights. Nearly every other lawyer disagreed.

This is pretty disgraceful. Helen Clark wants to refer the bill to the Law Commission to fix it up. Geoffrey Palmer, who is on the Commission, didn't want to be an advisor to the Government on the bill - so what the Government has done is made sure there is someone on the Commission that will tell the Government what it wants to hear so they can trumpet that “advice" in Parliament.

Who better than the person who provided the Crown Law opinion in the first place.

What does ths mean for the Bill of Rights?

Well, Crown Law “acknowledges that the issues are finely balanced”, but concludes that “the regulation of the electoral system ultimately depends upon political judgments and is an area in which a wide margin of appreciation is afforded to Parliament.” In other words the Bill of Rights Act is to be interpreted how Labour wants it to be interpreted and Parliament should back any such interpretation up.

So will the Law Commission now formally agree to this opinion?