Govt may lift campaign spending limits

Simon Power said the restructure would be done in two stages. File photo / Mark Mitchell

The Government is considering a 25 per cent increase to the limit on election campaign spending as part of electoral finance law reforms.

Justice Minister Simon Power today released a proposal discussion aimed at getting consensus on electoral law.

This followed the repeal of the controversial Electoral Finance Act (EFA).

Among the proposals was an increase in campaign expenditure limits. Currently, a constituency candidate can spend up to $20,000 on campaign advertising.

A political party can spend up to $1 million plus $20,000 for each electorate they contest.

With the current number of electorates set at 70 this sets campaign spending at $2.4 million for a party contesting all electorates, plus the party's share of the $3.2 million of the taxpayer funded broadcasting allocation.

The Government is proposing to increase the limit as it has not been changed since 1995.

"Since that time the relative value of the limits have fallen by approximately 25 per cent in real terms," the document said.

The Government wanted feedback on what the increase should be and whether it should be automatically inflation indexed between elections.

If the Government decided to lift the limit by 25 per cent, it would mean a party contesting all elections could spend $3 million at the next election.

Spending limits have been a contentious issue in the past with a number of court battles fought over electorate spending.

Some have argued that there should be no limits, while others oppose this as they believe it would give wealthy individuals and organisations an unfair advantages

Other proposals in the document include:

* A shorter regulated campaign period;

* Allowing parties to spend the broadcasting allocation on more than television or radio advertising;

* A looser definition of what is classified as election advertising; and

* New rules around election campaigning not conducted by political parties.

The last Government introduced EFA in response to the Exclusive Brethren's campaign against Labour and the Green Party in 2005.

The religious sect's attempts to conceal its identity led to the law change by Labour, though there was a strong backlash against the changes, with critics saying it was overly prescriptive and a constraint on free speech.

National repealed the law and wanted to introduce new law in time for the 2011 election.

Mr Power also announced today that the various electoral agencies would be amalgamated into one overarching commission.

The current split of roles between the Chief Electoral Officer, the Electoral Commission and the Chief Registrar of Electors was cumbersome, confusing and costly, he said.

The restructure would be done in two stages.

The Electoral Commission and the Chief Electoral Office would be amalgamated before the 2011 election and then the Chief Registrar would join the new Electoral Commission after the election.

The agencies and ongoing reviews have said the current arrangements are flawed.

The new commission will be set up by October next year with a bill introduced later this year to make that happen.

- NZPA