Ex-prime minister Jim Bolger calls for state funding of political parties after NZ First, National revelations
A former prime minister has added his voice to calls for New Zealand’s political parties to be financed with public money, easing their reliance on donations.
Former National Party leader Jim Bolger told RNZ that state funding for political parties was needed to stop people spending tens of thousands of dollars “buying influence”.
Green MP Golriz Ghahraman said she would be pushing for an increase when a new government was formed after the 2020 election.
Bolger’s remarks follow revelations in Stuff that a series of large donations from high-powered individuals to NZ First appear to have been hidden because they were made to the NZ First Foundation, rather than the party itself.
The National Party is also in the firing line, after allegations that a large donation was split into several smaller donations to avoid being declared.
Those claims are now before the Serious Fraud Office. while the allegations against NZ First is being looked at by the Electoral Commission.
The Greens have previously pushed for increased state funding of political parties.
Green MP Golriz Ghahraman said Bolger’s remarks showed momentum building behind state funding of political parties.
“New Zealanders want to get big money out of our politics,” Ghahraman said.
“We want our political donation system to be more transparent and not to be beholden to vested interests and state funding would be an amazing way to do that, it would make our politics equal,” she said.
Ghahraman currently has a bill in the member’s ballot that would ban foreign donations and put a cap on other donations.
It would force all donations over $1,000 to be disclosed. Currently, the threshold for donations is over $15,000. It would also put an annual cap of $35,000 a year on someone’s donations to a party or candidate.
Bolger said that New Zealanders accepted money influenced politics, so it was time to get donations out.
“The New Zealand law and public accept money can influence elections, that’s why we have very strict limits on the amount of money an individual can spend or an individual party can spend,” Bolger said.
All they need to do is to enforce the present laws. Stupid old fucker should just shut up and go back to the king country
Australia has a public funding model for election funding that we could examine – another of those working groups perhaps?
I think the parties receive something like $1 for every vote received, and there is a qualifying lower limit of something like 5% of the vote. So if such a formula were applied here then the two major parties would receive about a million each, and minor parties proportionately less. Of course this would ease pressure to raise funds and conceal identities, but I’m sure that we would have one expert in concealment still operate nonetheless !
yes I wish older politicians like Bolger, Helen Clark and Michael Cullen would just go back to their rocking chair and sip a glass of sherry and shut the f.. up.
Agree totaly with you. Bludger sold out to Labour years ago and is singing the Labour son!
Fund raising for political parties is very interesting.
Parties need money for bill boards, to fund public meetings etc.
So is it best to come from the government on an election percentage basis (which is retrospective) and are they still able to accept private donations?
What happens in other countries (not just Australia, eg The UK, France, Mexico, Zimbabwe.
Sounds very socialistic. The parties of the left just hate that National and to a smaller percentage Act are able to attract donations where the left parties struggle to collect money for their party. Spud Bolger has been showing his socialist leanings more and more over the past few years while still feeding from the taxpayer trough. He has had his time and as DigNap15 says, he should disappear, shut up and drink his Jamieson’s.
He was always a bleeding heart socialist. He’s Irish Catholic. what else would you expect?
He (along with the rest of the National Party) are bleeding heart socialists – that is the problem with politics in NZ.
Bolger the best National party Socialist ever. I could take out party perhaps? The bastard sold his soul to the devil and came out as woke as he could possibly be. Who actually cares what these past polys say? No reporter should give them any news time. He along with the other retired polys are all the most vainglorious know it all prats.
With all his taxpayer funded legal shenanigans Winston Peters has cost the New Zealand taxpayer quite enough money.
It doesn’t matter what system is in place for party funding, there will always be a Winston Peters rorting it.
Note Shane has been very quiet lately, been keeping his head down!
No, an emphatic no, to the taxpayer supporting political parties.
I resent the circus around paying for television time. As if anyone is going to sit and watch such nonsense given the range of other material available.
I do not wish to be legally forced to pay tax for it to end up, even in small part, supporting any party in the current coalition. I will choose to support, or not support a political party and do not need the state making that decision for me.
What nonsense from Mr Bolger. He should have known better.
Bolger worse that Obama
Now that Bolger is deep into his dotage and fully away with the fairies, surely it’s time for the old loser to STFU and remember that he’s not longer PM anymore. He’s had his time at the table and his opinion is totally worthless now. It’s an international measure of patheticness when long-gone PMs or Presidents start weighing in with their worthless opinions on current affairs. In NZ we basically can know that:
– an idea is always fucking retarded if it is proposed by Geoffrey Palmer
– an idea is always fucking retarded if it is proposed by Helen Clark
unfortunatley Jim Bolger – it’s the same for you. Go back to your retirement enclave on the Kapiti Coast and keep your meddling to the left footers who pretend whatever you say is relevant.
Old ‘spud’ Bolger has his political position and socialist teachings to entrench before his entry to the pearly gates. One of life’s ultimate missions for the good Irish catholic. 🤨
When I went to the New Conservatives Meeting the other day, they said that they don’t have any big donators, and that they would prefer to have their members and supporters to donate.
They suggest an AP of $20 a week til the election.
That is a bit beyond me, but I think I will flick them a few $20s
If you’d offered them 50k that preference for $20 a week would have evaporated quickly.
I’ll spend mine on wine instead. 😎
Along with Krispe Kreames!
Bolger is IRA
-an Irish Republican Arsehole.
He was massively incompetent as a PM.
His mob sold off NZ taxpayer assets cheap even after the Labour experience.
His Govt actually introduced the RMA instead of leaving it on the shelf.
A Geoffrey Palmer concoction and we see what happens to things Palmer touches.
This Bill was championed by Simon ‘softcock’ Upton with Bolger’s blessing.
And Notional have bleated about it ever since.
The Bill they passed into law!
And then never fixed it despite the fecking rhetoric.
Bolger stuffed Auckland by stripping the newly formed ARC of its powers circa 1992.
Those in Auckland will remember the big building at the top of Hobson Street where it was housed.
Bolger’s mob stripped just the Auckland Regional Council – not anyone else like Waikato or Wellington.
The farm boy known as Spud must have had some hate.
What did Auckland do to you Jim that you have so much hurt?
What did Monarch-controlled NZ do to you, Republican Jim, that you hate the country so much?
The Irish do Hate like no other.
This meant Auckland was without direction for 20 years then Notional came along and fucked it for all time in 2010 with the super shitty deal they foisted on us – with Liebour party mayors forever.
This also killed building consent for four years and the rest is history with major house price rises while immigrants poured in under Notional.
IRA Bolger flogged off Kiwirail for a low ball price that made Fay and Richwhite and Wisconsin Rail very rich while they ran it down with S.F.A. R+M and no investment.
Then Liebour bought it back after it was interim part flogged to Toll Holdings to asset strip.
Bolger flogged off Rail because it should not be owned by Government !!!
Then when Govt bought it back he said fine and dandy.
Jimbo says I’ll be Chairman of a Govt-owned Railway !
Nek minute:
He appointed a complete outsider with no experience whatever in Rail – might have caught a train once or twice -a Catholic mate – Jim Quinn- as CEO.
The nightmare continues.
Another interesting alignment is that the only mass killings (four of more people) in more than 70 years apart from Christchurch this year were under Bolger as PM.
Aramoana; Schlaepfer; Ratima, Bain, Raurimu.
Nothing for decades before nor decades after.
Hell of a thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_in_New_Zealand
Bolger brought in leaky homes by allowing houses to be built with untreated timber.
This has cost at least as much in both stress and financial loss as the Christchurch earthquakes.
Conclusion
There is much unsavoury about his time as PM and subsequent actions that could be written.
Simply put:
James Brendan Bolger is one shitlicking bastard of a bloke.
More like sneaky rat cunning than intelligent.
Given his religious beliefs then his destination is Hell for the pain and cost he has inflicted on people while pretending to care.
Why not just greater transparency? No need for taxpayers to pay for political parties. I surely don’t want to support the parties in the coalitions governments any more than my PAYE and GST already go into the central coffers.
If there was a tightening up around naming donors, and sniffing out shells, sock puppets, smoke and mirrors – not only will the media have fun airing the dirty laundry of those who try to scam the system, but the public might learn a little something about influence and who is really funding.
Open the books!
Welcome Fuzzysd.
That’s a damn scary avatar you have there! You’ll trigger my PTSD! 😜
`Green MP Golriz Ghahraman said she would be pushing for an increase when a new government was formed after the 2020 election.’
With any luck she and The Greens will not be part of the next parliament.
That is a further reason not to tick green next time around
Why is Golriz not doing something about the shady practices of her coalition partner who is selling policy for money? And why is she not dealing with the influence and funding of unions in our politics? Is she a hypocrite?