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National MP wants politician's convictions to be public knowledge

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 7 Nov 2019, 10:57AM
Matt King. Photo / NZ Herald

National MP wants politician's convictions to be public knowledge

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 7 Nov 2019, 10:57AM

An MP wants political candidates to open up about their criminal history.

The Disclosure of Electoral Candidates' Convictions bill will be submitted today, calling for transparency and for the Electoral commission to be able to publish the information.

This would only apply to offences punishable by two or more years' imprisonment, and those not covered under the Clean Slate scheme.

Northland National MP Matt King stold Mike Hosking the public need to know.

"There's some people with serious convictions, and there's no requirement to disclose publicly. There's people out there hiding some secrets."

At the moment, councillors don't have to share this info, and King says that there are already people out there with convictions.

"One guy that I know of, who is a former gang leader, him and his colleagues have beaten two cops unconscious. He served 22 months in jail. The general public wouldn't have known that."

 

 

 

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