Maori vote excluded | The Jackal

30 Mar 2012

Maori vote excluded

Last week, stuff.co.nz reported:

Opposition parties say New Zealand has been turned into a "police state" after Parliament last night narrowly passed the Government's controversial Search and Surveillance Bill.

Parliament last night passed by the Bill by 61 votes to 57.

It was opposed by all Opposition parties and the Government's support partner the Maori Party.

Now hang on a second, the vote should have been 60 against the Bill passing because the Maori party did in fact oppose the Search and Surveillance Bill.

Passing the Search and Surveillance Bill is therefore in breach of parliamentary process because the vote was incorrectly lodged/counted.