I know it would cost a fair amount of money and be largely pointless (what with the major parties not standing a candidate) but he should do it nonetheless.
Fundamentally, MPs (collectively at least) have a huge amount of power in the New Zealand system. If enough of them get together, they can do literally anything they can put in a statute (or even write themselves a statute which allows them to make it up as they go).
As a way of balancing this power, courts can judge MPs in certain regards. While MPs can say pretty much whatever they like in Parliament, they can still get in trouble outside Parliament. There are some restrictions about who is allowed to be an MP.
Because the balance of power in the relationship is so clearly with the MPs, the occassions when a judge decides an MP has breached the rules should be taken seriously.
It seems to me, that contempt of court is a pretty good reason for having your status as an MP be questioned. Ensuring MPs only influence judges by passing legislation is a very important boundary which encourages our governing structure to be transperant (you can at least read a statute - it is much more difficult to listen in to private chats). Transperancy is vital in a democracy as it helps to avoid the old market failure of incomplete information (which can distort our otherwise entirely rational, utility maximising decisions ;).
Okay, so Nick Smith may have been correct in his criticism. I don't know - and I don't think it matters. MPs have the power to tidy up the courts in a formal manner - they don't have to resort to flouting court rules to do so.
So, it seems to me that it should be up to the voters of Nick Smith's electorate to decide whether or not he was justified in breaking the law - and not at the distance of the next election.
As a footnote, I don't actually think that the position of the other parties and their intentions to stand opposing candidates should be a relevant consideration. If the issue was important enough, it would be conceivable that an independant candidate or a candidate from a very, very small party might win, and they should be given the opportunity to try.
Posted by carla at April 1, 2004 10:34 PM