S.59 Bill just the warmup lap

this from http://thisisnewzealand.blogspot.com/2007/04/s59-bill-just-warmup-lap.html

NZers by and large are dumbfounded at Sue Bradford's and Helen Clark's blind insistence on steamrollering ahead with the anti-smacking Bill currently before Parliament. The Bill addresses the issue of the use of corporal force ( e.g. smacking) used only for the purposes of correction. However, a hard core of Labour supporters believe in the Bill and are backing it to the hilt. Since the election, Labour has not had a happy time, and it's become clear that there are two particular groups in the party that are calling most of the shots and pulling the major strings.  These are:

1.      Trade unions - the rump Labour support going back to its founding. Some of these unions are led by hard line communists who still believe all that workers' revolution nonsense. The government has bent over backwards to favour the union movement since 1999. There are a number of disturbing trends being seen in the resurgent strength of the trade union wing.

2.      Rainbow Labour - the party's most favoured politically correct cause. This group is rabidly engaged in vilifying and demonising conservative Christians, not just in politics but in wider society. They have led the charge on social engineering reforms such as prostitution law, civil unions and now Section 59. One of the faction's key MPs, Chief Whip Tim Barnett, is on record as saying he want all vestiges of Victorian morality eliminated from society.

Both groups are currently at the forefront of the desperate measures being taken by Labour to remain in power. As each day passes, the party looks less and less like a responsible agent of Government and more and more like conniving, scheming, power-at-all-costs control freaks and manipulators. The more so since the misappropriation of almost a million dollars of taxpayer funds was revealed after the 2005 election.

The election campaign was also noted for the involvement of the Exclusive Brethren who spent a six figure amount campaigning against Labour. The Brethren have become a natural target for vilification since then as the Rainbow wing in particular has been quick to take aim.

If the Section 59 repeal bill is unpopular, it should be seen as the warmup lap for Labour's attempts to change the whole electoral funding system. Third parties like the Brethren and various pro-Labour groups such as trade unions are to be barred from such campaigning in the future. This is a serious attack on free speech. Labour also wants to bring in full State funding of political parties, which amounts to legitimising the party's previous raids upon the taxpayer purse.

The deals are currently being done behind closed doors to shore up support for this unpopular measure, and it will likely be steamrollered through Parliament as yet another example of Labour's continual abuse of democratic process in New Zealand. As some will know, I am a Christian. The Biblical phrases referring to "wickedness in high places" seem very relevant to me when considering the track that our country has been taken down by Labour since 2005 in particular. The government has become very incompetent as well as immoral. The current term is now about half completed. It is only 18 months or so to the next election. For me and many other New Zealanders, the opportunity to vote this shameful government out of power can't come soon enough.