Quote of the Day

[civicsir+]

"Until politicians and police headquarters grow some testes, then gangs will continue to recruit new kids, engage in organised crime and kill people."

New Zealand, world, sport, business & entertainment news on Stuff.co.nz

[WTNESS]

michael laws for president!!!

[David R]

I'm a bit dissapointed not to have heard more noises from at least two parties about their policies on tougher sentencing and law and order...

[Gudgen]

Originally Posted by WTNESS

michael laws for president!!!

how can one speak tough and wear make-up??

[grandell]

Originally Posted by David R

I'm a bit dissapointed not to have heard more noises from at least two parties about their policies on tougher sentencing and law and order...

Act is quite an ironic name for a political party though...

[BUMP]

so is new Zealand first

[Danielle]

Originally Posted by BUMP

so is new Zealand first

Ohhhh touche

[americ_ian]

Originally Posted by BUMP

so is new Zealand first

ba-dum-tshhh

[David R]

I guess Labour is an appropriate name, given that they've made almost everything more laborious with red tape and bureaucratic bullshit...

[tysonzane]

Originally Posted by WTNESS

michael laws for president!!!

i cant stand him as a person and i think hes a prick. But man you gotta listen because he's not afraid to speak out and some of the shit he says is just halerous.

[Dionysus]

Originally Posted by WTNESS

michael laws for president!!!

Didn't he have a crack as an MP for National?

hang on,

Blatantly stolen from wikipedia

Having become involved in the New Zealand Young Nationals (the youth wing of the National Party), Laws worked as a parliamentary researcher for National between 1985 and 1989. Most of this time he spent as a senior researcher and press secretary, including assisting the dissident National MP Winston Peters from 1987 to 1989. In the 1987 elections, Laws stood as the National candidate for the Hawke's Bay seat, but narrowly failed to defeat the incumbent Bill Sutton of the Labour Party. In the 1990 elections, however, Laws wrested the seat from Sutton to enter Parliament with a majority of 2,895 votes. In the 1993 elections he retained his seat with an increased majority — despite a significant nation-wide swing away from the National Party.

[edit] Renegade MP

Laws never had a good relationship with the National Party's senior hierarchy. As a researcher he had done much of his work for Winston Peters, whom party leader Jim Bolger looked upon with disapproval. Tensions persisted between Laws and Bolger after Laws became an MP, made worse by Laws' declaration that he would attempt to follow popular opinion in Hawke's Bay rather than National Party policy. Laws voted against his party on a number of issues, joining several other dissident MPs to oppose the economic policies of the Minister of FinanceRuth Richardson. In early 1991 he even organised public seminars designed to avoid his government's new superannuation surtax policies. The Bolger administration later abandoned the surtax, but Laws earned the ongoing enmity of his colleagues for his stance. He also championed the unsuccessful Death with Dignity Bill, which aimed to legalise voluntary euthanasia. The terminal illness of Cam Campion, a fellow dissident in Laws' first term in parliament, prompted this advocacy.
Throughout his parliamentary career, rumours frequently circulated that Laws planned to join a new party. When Gilbert Myles and Hamish MacIntyre, angry about Ruth Richardson's policies, founded the new Liberal Party, they invited Laws to join them, but he declined. Later, when his old boss Winston Peters established the New Zealand First party, rumours claimed Laws had considered changing parties, but eventually decided that New Zealand First lacked the organisation and principle for success. Finally, Laws became involved in discussions with Mike Moore, former leader (1990 - 1993) of the Labour Party, to establish a new centrist party. It did not eventuate, however, with Laws claiming that Moore showed unwillingness to commit to it. In the end, Laws' relationship with the National Party deteriorated to the point where he no longer attended caucus meetings, and he decided to join New Zealand First in April 1996.