KEY POINTS:
Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt is making a direct attack on the Government today in a last-minute blast of newspaper advertising before new financial limits are imposed on political messages.
From tomorrow, anyone spending more than $12,000 on political advertising before the general election and who does not become registered as a "third party" for such a purpose will be in breach of the new Electoral Finance Act.
A limit of $120,000 will apply to those who register with the Electoral Commission as third parties, and anyone wilfully exceeding that amount could be jailed for up to two years for a corrupt practice.
Mr Shadbolt's ads, in the Herald and four other daily newspapers, appeal to "Dear Fellow Kiwis" for freedom to oppose a Government funding cut to the Invercargill-based Southern Institute of Technology.
"I have had to publish this appeal to you today, because tomorrow this will be subject to the Electoral Finance Act, and I am not willing to register with the Government just for the right to free speech," he says in the ads.
Unlike previous full-page ads opposing the funding cut of $6.2 million in general terms, the latest message is overtly political.
"This Government has ignored our pleas for mercy and therefore I believe I should have the right to advocate a change of Government," the former Labour supporter says.
"I honestly believe that the National Party would be far more sensitive and encouraging towards successful, trade-based technical institutions that are providing quality education in this country."
Free Speech Coalition spokesman David Farrar said although he did not think the first advertisements would have been counted as political advertising, the latest message would certainly be caught by the new legislation, if reproduced after today.
His own organisation had completed all the paperwork it believed necessary to register as a third party with the Electoral Commission today, in hope that it could keep displaying billboards lampooning the new legislation.
But although that would allow it to spend up to $120,000 on general political advertising up to the day before the election, a Tauranga billboard depicting North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il praising Winston Peters for beating "the scourge of free speech" risked breaching a lesser limit.
Mr Farrar said the Electoral Commission had been unable to give clear advice on whether the billboard would count towards a limit of $4000 on election advertising relating to a candidate for a particular constituency, depending on whether the New Zealand First leader tried to regain his former Tauranga seat.
Mr Farrar understood a second billboard, depicting Fiji coup leader Frank Bainimarama saluting "Helen Clark's anti-democracy plotters", was not at such risk as it stood in Mt Wellington, away from the Prime Minister's electorate.
Mr Shadbolt, who has said he is willing to go to prison in opposition to the education funding cut, indicated uncertainty last night over his next move.
That was because of legal advice that liability for breaching the legislation might lie with Invercargill City Council chief executive Richard King, as the official responsible for all resolutions taken by that organisation.
He wanted clear guidance from the Electoral Commission because "while I'm prepared to martyr myself, I think it would be unfair to martyr my CEO - he said he wasn't very keen on going to jail".
Mr Shadbolt did not intend registering as a third party under the legislation as he did not want to comply with it in any shape or form. "This is meant to be a case of civil disobedience."
Asked about his switch of political support to National, he said although there was no doubt that Labour had done "some great work" such as freezing interest payments on student loans and establishing Kiwibank, its funding cut to the southern institute would jeopardise the vitally important provision of skilled workers.
National Party leader John Key said he was not surprised by Mr Shadbolt's turnabout "because he can see the lunacy of the laws".
"What it demonstrates is the suffocating nature of the electoral finance law which clearly limits New Zealanders standing up and speaking about what they believe in."
