I see that Grant Robertson and Trevor Mallard are trying desperately to spin that the VRWC has helped them get more signs printed. This is now a concerted campaign to run this line because they’ve been caught with their pants down.
So Labour have broken road safety rules with campaign but they are also in breach of several other laws and by-laws as well.
Despite their brave attempts in the face of utter destruction of their vaunted campaign, I must also point out to Labour - that no matter how many of these illegal signs they print – they cannot erect them - even if they’re not beside a road.
Why?
Because most councils have a rule about erecting ‘Vote’ hoardings more than a couple of months out from an election. The Bay of Plenty is the only council in New Zealand that allows ‘Vote’ hoardings outside of an election period.
So Labour can print as many signs as they like – putting aside the fact that they are ‘illegal’ from a traffic safety point of view – they also can’t be erected anywhere by any of the gullible turkeys who are paying for them.
This is an epic fail as my 14 year old son would say. Apart from breaking the road rules – they’re also breaking electoral rules.
Then there is the Securities aspect of this case. David Farrar points out that they are essentially running their own Ponzi scheme.
Desperately trying to continue to raise money by getting people to “invest” in an illegal product certainly has all the hallmarks of a ponzi scheme. Perhaps the Securities Commission would investigate the ponzi aspects of the case.
Meanwhile there is a little job for the the Commerce Commission with a clear breach of the Consumer Guarantees Act which states in Section seven:
7 Meaning of acceptable quality
- (1) For the purposes of section 6, goods are of acceptable quality if they are as—
(a) fit for all the purposes for which goods of the type in question are commonly supplied
These signs are definitely not fit for the purpose they are sold under. They can’t display them near a road and they can’t display them outside an election period, there actually doesn’t seem to be anything they can do with them and so they are unfit for any purpose and in breach of the Consumer Guarantees Act.
Labour seem to be going for the slam dunk and trying to break as many laws as possible with their ill-conceived sign campaign. But wait there’s more as the old infomercials used to say.
Readers may also ecall the huge song and dance Labour made about National supposedly investing in billboards outside the regulated period during the ’05 campaign to avoid the expenditure coming under the spending cap?
This was one of the spurious reasons Labour quoted for imposing the odious and anti-democratic Electoral Finance Act.
This ‘Stop’ campaign makes them total hypocrites as well as law breakers.
I sincerely hope that when a non-English speaking tourist has an accident because of the bogus ’Stop’ signs – that Labour is prosectuted. For Labour’s sake I hope the accident isn’t a fatality.
