Talk:Jami-Lee Ross

Qualification
Hi, I am a staff member for Jami-Lee Ross. It has been brought to our attention that there is some disagreement about Jami-Lee's qualification - whether he has a private pilot licence or a commercial pilot licence. It is actually a commercial pilot licence. I realise I can't make edits myself because of a COI, but am happy to provide proof of this to another user if need be. Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by LBMM2013 (talk • contribs) 00:47, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Hi there, thank you for being aware of Wikipedia policy; WP:COI would apply in this case. If you can post the proof here, that would do the trick. If you need to send the proof by email attachment, you can email me via Wikimail, I will then reply by 'normal' email, and in turn you can email the attachment to me. Or do you have something different in mind altogether?  Schwede 66  08:42, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
 * I received a photo of his "Commercial Pilot Licence (Aeroplane)" quite a while ok. Licence number 59860. I'll reference this, plus his middle name, in the article.  Schwede 66  21:11, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

Is this true?
The latest addition to the article, following Ross' live statement this morning, says "Ross left the National Party on October 16, and by extension was forced to resign as the MP for Botany". Forced? I read somewhere that he could resign party membership, but remain in the seat as an independant if he chose. Is that true? If it is we need to fix it soonest. Moriori (talk) 22:56, 15 October 2018 (UTC)


 * This is called Waka-jumping. The article sheds light on the history of the practice and points out that there is currently a bill (2018) before parliament that addresses waka jumping. Akld guy (talk) 23:17, 15 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Um, yes, I know about Waka jumping, and thought it would be a given that I know. I also know the (2018) bill is before parliament. Look, since 2005, has it been or is it possible for an MP resigning from his party to choose to remain in parliament as an independent until the next election? Is it true that Ross was forced to resign as an MP? Moriori (talk) 23:40, 15 October 2018 (UTC)


 * It's not a given. I'm not a mind reader and I have no idea what you may or may not know. Your User page does not even indicate whether you're a New Zealander, so you could be in some other country and unfamiliar with the term and the current bill. Akld guy (talk) 02:09, 16 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Gosh. That irrelevancy doesn't explain why you didn't answer my question which i asked because I thought you might have the answer. In the meantime I have edited the article to fix the abomination. Moriori (talk) 05:45, 16 October 2018 (UTC)
 * The answer to your question, derived from the waka jumping article, is that an MP doesn't need to choose whether to become an independent after resigning from his party. By default, he automatically becomes an independent, since he is no longer attached to any party. The only decision he needed to make was whether to run in the by-election caused by this. Akld guy (talk) 07:16, 16 October 2018 (UTC)

Hi guys, the waka-jumping bill actually passed into law earlier this month (Royal assent October 3rd), and is no longer before Parliament. So Jami-Lee Ross will not be able to sit out the parliamentary term as an independent MP now that he is out of the National Party. He announced his resignation just hours before his caucus voted to expel him from the party, but yes, if the caucus had got in first, then it would have been true to say he was "forced to resign" as the MP for Botany. But certainly they were closing in, and in that sense he was forced, to leave not just the National Party but also Parliament. Here is the progress record of the waka-jumping bill (Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Bill) on the Parliament website, you can also see the legislation through this link too: Next up will be a by-election in his seat of Botany, and he is expected to stand again, this time as an independent. If he wins he will be allowed to be in Parliament on his own terms. But for now, he can be an independent MP in Parliament having left the National Party, only until the by-election begins or he leaves before then (which I think he's doing today). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 150.107.172.94 (talk) 12:08, 18 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Thank you for a measured reply 150.107.172.94 which endorses my reasoning for me removing the phrase "was forced to resign". It's a funny old world, innit! The latest development from Ross -- "I have not submitted a resignation letter to the Speaker. I intended to do that today. I will instead stay on as an MP". Hard to keep up, and can he do that legally anyway? Moriori (talk) 05:27, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Balance
Currently more than half the article is on the events of the last week, which shows a complete lack of balance. If this isn't fixed, I'm going to radically reduce the size of coverage of the scandal. Stuartyeates (talk) 08:05, 21 October 2018 (UTC)