Steve Baron: When it comes to Colin Craigs Conservative Party I may be a little bias given they have been so strong in promoting binding referendums (albeit with a 66% proviso I dont agree with) but then again I could be a Winston Peters NZ First supporter because they too have supported binding referendums for a long time, even though they have done very little, if anything, to push the cause. For this reason and the fact that Colin Craig produced such a good result after a very short time leading into the last election, I have said for a long time that I believe the Conservative Party will get past the 5% threshold. Given the latest poll out shows them on an ever growing 3.4% ow.ly/AlFFW I feel rather enthused. Love him, hate him or think you know who and what Colin Craig is (and you are probably wrong) he is the best chance you have to improve your democracy. Colin impressed me simply because when I did an interview with him about direct democracy he really had an in-depth knowledge of direct democracy. At the end of the day I believe the Conservative Party is the best opportunity New Zealand has to improve our democracy and ensure referendums are made binding. Colin Craig and the Conservative Party, if needed to form a government (a distinct possibility) have said they will insist on binding referendums in any coalition agreement. So therefore, even if you dont like him and what his coalition partners want to push through parliament--you can have a referendum to stop them. Makes perfect sense to me. This guy is not the loony some of the bias media are trying to portray him as. The media have taken comments he has made out of context and gone to extremes to make him media fodder, but Colin Craig has persisted when others may have fallen by the way. All I have ever seen in the conversations I have had with Colin is an intelligent, successful and genuine Kiwi bloke who wants to make a difference to the way we run our country--he is not an idiot. Its also pleasing to see Garth McVicar from the Sensible Sentencing Trust take to the political stand for the Conservative Party. This is another genuine Kiwi bloke who has put his money where his mouth is for his Trust and tried to make a difference in our criminal justice system. While I may not agree with everything Garth and SST have to say, what I would say is that Garth deserves a Knighthood for his efforts. He is far more deserving of such an honour than 95% of those who have already received one for throwing a ball around a rugby field. This election is certainly starting to shape up to be a moment in political history, in my opinion.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 05:41:13 +0000