'Sir' content to leave law debate behind

Helena Catt

Helena Catt remembers the flak when the Electoral Commission warned it might investigate a Tui billboard featuring Winston Peters in the election campaign.

It was the issue that attracted the most public opprobrium in election year and one email sticks in her memory: "Sir, do you not have a sense of humour?"

Last Friday "Sir" ended her five-year stint as chief executive of the Electoral Commission.

Tomorrow Dr Catt will head off for a more nomadic life of what she describes good-humouredly as "democracy-enhancing activities in the Pacific".

First stop will be Vanuatu to help run a new civic education programme with the Australian Electoral Commission, largely funded by Australia's aid agency, AusAid. She will also be working on the professional development of electoral administrators, trying to ensure the electoral processes in Pacific countries are robust enough to reduce reliance on overseas aid - Micronesia is on the list and Timor, probably in August.

Her five years at the Electoral Commission spanned two of the more volatile elections in recent history.

The first, in 2005, involved the Exclusive Brethren and the Auditor-General later ruling some party spending of public money unlawful. That, combined with ongoing disquiet about anonymous donations and donations being squirrelled away in trusts led to the Electoral Finance Act in 2007.

It was at this point that Dr Catt became more widely known than electoral agency heads usually are after going public with concerns about the new law - rare for a public servant.

Dr Catt said she spoke out because "it had to be said".

It left her slightly battle scarred and was one of the reasons she decided not to remain.

She does have opinions on what should be included.

One plea for those drawing up a replacement law is to make the definition of published election advertising clear and similar to the definition of "electioneering" used to decide whether parliamentary funding can be used for advertising by MPs.

Despite the controversy over regulating the activities and spending power of "third parties", Dr Catt thinks some limits are justified.

She said getting a long-term agreement on electoral law and some consensus on how it worked in areas which were difficult to legislate for was critical.

The suggestion it would be more fun to stay here and watch political parties hammer their heads together to find a replacement for the Electoral Finance Act drew a Tui-billboard reaction.

"It's not something that excites me in terms of wanting to be there to make sure it was done right," said Dr Catt. "I would rather be enhancing democracy in the Pacific."