Greens propose way forward on lax local government laws

A good way forward to keep local government politics clean after the recent John Banks fiasco is to lower the amount able to be donated anonymously, Green Party local government spokesperson Denise Roche said today.

The Green Party has a member's bill, the Local Government (Finance) Amendment Bill, in Denise Roche's name. This Bill would restrict anonymous donations to $500.

"Politics should be about the best ideas not about which politician has friends with the deepest wallets," said Ms Roche.

"In keeping with this we also consider that there should be a cap of $5000 on donations from any person or group.

"Politicians from all sides of the House are in agreement that our local government electoral laws need revising," said Ms Roche.

"By taking up our already drafted legislation we can actually get to work fixing this problem."

Link to Bill: http://www.greens.org.nz/bills/local-electoral-finance-amendment-bill