Labour spent half as much as National on last year's election campaign and was outspent by the Greens for the first time.
Parties' election advertising expenses were released yesterday and show Labour spent $1.27 million - slightly less than the Green Party on $1.29 million and half the National Party's $2.6 million.
National was the biggest spender, followed by the Conservative Party, which was bankrolled by leader Colin Craig and spent $1.9 million. Funded by $3.5 million from Kim Dotcom, the Internet-Mana alliance spent $660,000 while the Internet Party spent a further $320,000. Of the parties in Parliament, United Future spent the least - just under $2000.
Labour's shoestring budget and low election result will have the party asking how the much smaller Green Party had more funds. In 2011, the Greens spent $780,000 and Labour $1.8 million.
Labour's hierarchy has been criticised for failing to fundraise and the election expenses indicate it was a problem. General secretary Tim Barnett said Labour had never had large reserves and had spent within its means. The lower costs were partly because of more "low cost, high impact" campaigning, such as phoning, door knocking and direct mail rather than traditional media advertising.
