Posts by Phil Lyth
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Legal Beagle: Infrequently asked questions, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Can NZ MPs still use parliamentary facilities during the election period?
As implied in my previous post, yes. And IMHO that’s a good thing. Still constituent cases to be serviced. They can travel to talk policy. And they can use resources (funding/staff/Library research) for policy work – the development would have been done months ago, but to fact-check and challenge.
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Legal Beagle: Infrequently asked questions, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
has any party got into parliament for the first time without one of its candidates already being a sitting MP? (as the Conservative Party are trying to do at this election).
Back to the substantive point:
ACT in 1996 was elected without a current MP. But they did have three ex-MPs as candidates (Prebble Quigley and Shearer) with 11 terms experience between them.
Conservative in 2011 similarly have ex-MP Baldock with one term of experience as a candidate.
ACT in 2011 do not have a current MP as a candidate. While the candidates do not have access to publicly funded travel, I assume Boscawen et al retain Leaders Office funding and staff, access to the Parliamentary Library research facilities and will be make full use of those resources in the normal way.
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Legal Beagle: Infrequently asked questions, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
There are currently no members of Parliament.
S54 of the Electoral Act provides that people holding office as a Member of Parliament:
vacate that office at the close of polling day at the next general election
So I’d say there are 119 MPs in office (vale Allan Peachey).
Have I managed to fact-check Graeme?
Edit: only 119 MPs - John Carter and Chris Carter have left without by-elections. Shame of not checking before posting.
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Legal Beagle: Referendum Fact Check 4:…, in reply to BlairMacca,
oh, and on the referendum site under the heading What will I be asked?, it says (bold emphasis added):
There are two questions you will be asked. You can choose to answer both questions, or only the first one, or only the second one. You will be asked to tick the option you prefer.
So a KeepMMP vote, with no alternate chosen, will be valid.
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Legal Beagle: Referendum Fact Check 4:…, in reply to BlairMacca,
Schedule 1 of the Electoral Referendum Act specifies the form of the ballot paper. It explicitly says:
You may vote in both Part A and Part B or you may vote in only Part A or only Part B.
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Hard News: Auckland, so much enormity to…, in reply to Paul Williams,
Yes, public service are often brilliant, make no mistake about that. I suspect that if Sir Mad or Michael Lock's partner had called DIA this morning (wonder if the Locks still had to register the birth?), they would have been helped.
MPs get called on for the harder bits.
And as for
trying to corrupt a politician
Get off the grass!
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Hard News: Auckland, so much enormity to…, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
+1
Said MP might be reading Ayn Rand?
(for the avoidance of doubt, +1 referring to tweets not passports)
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Hard News: Auckland, so much enormity to…, in reply to raoulduke,
Even if both parents have kept Aussie citizenship, the baby was born here and looks to be a NZ citizen: from the Internal Affairs website
From 1 January 2006, children born in New Zealand (or in the Cook Islands, Niue or Tokelau) acquire New Zealand citizenship at birth only if at least one of their parents:
is a New Zealand citizen; or
is entitled to be in New Zealand indefinitely in terms of the Immigration Act 1987(i.e. a residence permit holder or Australian citizen); or
is entitled to reside indefinitely in the Cook Islands, Tokelau or Niue. -
It's pretty common for MPs to be approached by people seeking help, and they do what they can to assist. Ministers and their offices listen to opposition MPs as well as Govt ones. This isn't to say that laws or policies will be ignored.
In my time at Parlt, I saw plenty of casework and was able to feel some job satisfaction in getting a few things sorted. One of the more unusual was the farmer with stock spooked by lowflying Skyhawks: the answer back from Max Bradford's office within the day was, righto, that farm is marked on the map to stay away from.
This year, I owe thanks to Maurice Williamson's office for a bit of help with my Mum's funeral. No donation was requested.
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+2 to what Craig said.
The Register Citizen is a newspaper serving Litchfiled County outside new York City.
They have the gumption to put a FactCheck box on every story with an invitation to tell them about wrong or inaccurate information. Sounds like a grownup thing to do.