KEY POINTS:
Whale Rider star Rawiri Paratene has been campaigning for the Green Party on a European junket paid for by his movie distributors.
IDTV, the Dutch distributors of his new film, Bride Flight, picked up the tab for air tickets to London and Europe. The movie, which premiered in
Amsterdam on Monday, features vast swathes of lush New Zealand scenery.
Tourism New Zealand, Film South and the NZ Embassy at The Hague have been promoting the movie.
But last week, Paratene spent two days campaigning for the Green Party, as the main attraction at evening meetings at London's New Zealand House and a popular Soho cafe. Paratene is the party's candidate for Maungakiekie, in Auckland.
Expenses are among several loopholes parties can exploit when they campaign offshore, because the new Electoral Finance Act does not extend to advertising and promotions commissioned in foreign countries by overseas residents.
Demographers estimate up to a million Kiwis live overseas, many of whom are eligible to vote. Only 52,000 are enrolled but the parties are working frantically to add as many as possible by the November 7 deadline.
The Electoral Commission acknowledges that overseas promoters and wealthy donors can buy party political advertising with impunity, and that spending will not count toward the parties' campaign spending limits. The limits are triggered only if someone in New Zealand buys the advertising.
The parties with the biggest overseas vote campaigns - National, Labour and the Greens - all insist they are erring on the side of caution, and abiding by the spirit of the law.
The Greens in London were planning to distribute green condoms, printed with the slogan, "Do it for your country. Party vote Green." As campaign advertisements, they would have voluntarily carried the small print, "Authorised by Big Jon Field, 73 Eden Street, Wellington".
But National wants the commission to clarify the rules on overseas campaign expenses.
Phil Rennie, National's overseas vote co-ordinator in London, says: "We have a minimal budget and are being very careful to play it safe and stick within the rules, as far as we can tell what the rules are.
"It would be a lot easier if those of us campaigning overseas knew exactly what the rules were."
Promotional material is difficult to control. The Herald on Sunday discovered Facebook campaign pages for the Labour, National, the Greens, the Maori Party and Act that did not carry the usual "authorised by" tagline. When the paper alerted the parties, they quickly rectified the omissions.
Electoral enrolment is also potentially fraught.
Expats are legally permitted to enrol to vote in whatever New Zealand electorate they last called home for more than a month, but many young people on OEs have their mail redirected to their parents' homes.
Some may wrongly enrol in their parents' electorate or in another electorate entirely - although the Electoral Enrolment Centre says there is no evidence of significant numbers enrolling at addresses where they've never lived.
But one of the most difficult funding areas to monitor is campaign expenses paid by third parties, like Rawiri Paratene's airfares.
Tourism NZ said Bride Flight is considered the most expensive Dutch movie made.
It is based on the true story of a 1953 air race from London to Christchurch and takes viewers on a picturesque journey through the North and South Islands, the agency adds.
But it has taken Paratene on a journey much further afield.
On Wednesday, he outlined to Maori expats at New Zealand House in London why they should vote for the Green Party. The following day he met potential voters at the Flat White Cafe, a Soho establishment popular with young professional antipodeans in the city.
Paratene told the Herald on Sunday he planned the promotional trip before he agreed to run for Parliament, and was using a couple of days off in London to campaign.
"John Key refers to these people as the brain drain, so I feel like I must be in the sewer at present. But it's not full of shit at all," he said.
"I was looking forward to a break, because my schedule has been full. But the Greens got me in touch with people here, and they've kept me really busy."
