National backflips on MP funding

The biggest identifiable item funded by Parliament last year was Labour's Budget leaflet - featuring what turned out to be an American family. Photo / Mark Mitchell

National did a complete somersault yesterday over a law that has liberalised the rules applying to MPs' spending and is now promoting a continuation of the law which it called "a disgrace" in Opposition.

The MPs spending rules expire on July 1 and were bitterly opposed by National when they were passed last term under the Labour-led Government.

National argued that they gave MPs the ability to have Parliament fund their election advertising at the same time as the Electoral Finance Act was tightening the election advertising rules for non-parliamentary parties and candidates.

The MPs spending rules will remain in place under the Parliamentary Service (Continuation of Interim Meaning of Funding for Parliamentary Purposes) Bill until December 2010.

Between now and then, there will be a cross-party review of the Electoral Finance Act.

Any changes to Parliament's rules will be made in conjunction with electoral law reforms, leader of the House Gerry Brownlee said yesterday.

National's opposition to the MPs spending law last term followed a report by the Auditor General in 2006 saying that Parliament had illegally funded more than $1 million of political parties' advertising material in the 2005 election.

Instead of MPs tightening their rules, they liberalised their laws.

Under the liberalised law that National opposed, Parliament will pay for any party's political advertising so long as it does not explicitly solicit votes or money.

The relevant law expired in 2007 and another law was passed extending the "interim" meaning of funding for a "parliamentary purpose" to run until July 1, 2009, which National also bitterly opposed.

With that expiring, Mr Brownlee yesterday promoted a bill that will continue the rules until December 2010.

By then the "interim meaning" will have existed for almost four years. The liberalised laws meant that taxpayers continued to fund some parties' election advertising in the 2008 election but not to the same extent as Labour's $400,000 pledge card.

The biggest identifiable item funded by Parliament last year was Labour's Budget leaflet - featuring what turned out to be an American family.

Parliamentary Service paid $70,000 in costs for it and Labour declared it on its expenses return.

Labour did not rub National's nose in its flip-flop. Chief Whip Darren Hughes welcomed the "calmer nature" in which it was being debated. He also welcomed the chance to develop cross-party support on the definition of the term "parliamentary purposes".