Consultation and legislative process
The Electoral Finance Act 2007 was repealed in February 2009. An interim electoral finance regime was put in place while the regime was reviewed.
The electoral finance reform process aimed to encourage broad public discussion on key topics and gain feedback from parliamentary parties and the public about how electoral campaigning and political party funding should be regulated.
The key topics covered in the reform were:
-
Candidate and Political Party Funding
-
Campaign Spending
-
Advertising
-
Parallel Campaigning
-
Monitoring and Compliance
The consultation process was administered by the Ministry of Justice. As part of the consultation process, the Ministry of Justice:
- encouraged submissions from a range of audiences and created opportunities to share different viewpoints
- promoted transparency and confidence in the reform process and its outcomes
- provided advice to the Minister of Justice.
The review had three stages. Each stage provided an opportunity for the public to have a say.
Guiding principles
The following principles were developed by the Ministry of Justice to guide the consultation process:
Information sharing - Sufficient information will be provided so participants can engage in a meaningful way and are able to make informed and useful responses.
Respect - Successful consultation is based on respect for all participants in the process.
Opportunity - Sufficient opportunity will be given for participants to express their views, and there should be some flexibility in how this opportunity is provided.
Openness - All participants in the process should demonstrate an open mind and a willingness to listen.
Stage 1 - Issues Paper
An Issues Paper was released for public consultation on 22 May 2009. Submissions closed on 26 June 2009. The Issues Paper’s purpose was to generate public discussion on broad issues and gather ideas for ways to address these issues. The Issues Paper was not Government policy and was designed to ask questions, not provide answers.
Summary of submissions received on the Issues Paper (PDF, 170Kb)
Public forums on the Issues Paper were held in Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington.
IPS half day roundtable on the review of electoral finance: Friday 29 May
The Institute of Policy Studies hosted a half-day roundtable on Friday 29 May to discuss electoral finance.
For the papers see:
Stage 2 - Proposal Document
A Proposal Document was released for public comment on 28 September 2009. Submissions closed on 30 October 2009. The Proposal Document’s purpose was to seek public input on Government proposals for new legislation. The Proposal Document took into account the views provided by the public on the Issues Paper.
Proposal Document (PDF, 421Kb)
Summary of submissions received on the Proposal Document (PDF, 512.4Kb)
Stage 3 - The Bill
Cabinet made decisions in December 2009 on the areas of electoral finance law that are to be reformed.
Cabinet paper on the consensus reform package (December 2009) (PDF, 1.1MB)
These areas of reform were announced in February 2010.
In April 2010, the Minister of Justice introduced the Electoral (Finance Reform and Advance Voting) Bill to the House of Representatives. The aim of the Bill was to provide a package of reforms to ensure greater certainty and transparency in the conduct of the electoral process.
Cabinet paper seeking approval for introduction of the Bill (April 2010) (PDF, 2.1MB)
Regulatory Impact Statement (April 2010) (PDF, 2.2MB)
The Bill provided for reform in the areas that received a broad consensus from the public and political parties during the consultation process. In general, the Bill:
- required disclosure of the total amount of donations that parties receive in bands.
- provided for an increase in the amount of money that parties and candidates can spend on election campaigning set at the rate of inflation for each general election.
-
required third party promoters who spend or intend to spend more than $12,000 on election advertising during the regulated campaign period to register with the Electoral Commission. The register would be publicly available to ensure openness and transparency concerning the identities of third party promoters.
- provided more certainty to what counts as 'election advertising' by modernising the definition.
The Bill differed from the February 2010 announcement in three ways:
- The Bill proposed that the start date of the regulated campaign period be structured to have three possible triggers. This was to avoid retrospective application where an election is called less than three months from polling day.
- Clarifying that the relationship between the Electoral Act 1993 and Parliamentary Service legislation would be addressed in separate legislation.
Summary of the key areas of reform in the Bill (PDF 3.0MB)
Also, following the unanimous decision of the Justice and Electoral Committee in its inquiry into the 2008 General Election, the Bill removed the requirement for advance voters to make a written declaration establishing their eligibility to vote in their electorate before election day.
Cabinet decision on advance voting (March 2010) (PDF, 5405Kb)
The Bill did not provide for reform to the broadcasting regime that has existed since 1990. Similarly, as was the case before the 2008 election, the Bill did not impose expenditure limits on third party promoters. New Zealanders were strongly divided on these issues throughout the consultation process.
In November 2010, following public submissions, the Electoral Legislation Committee recommended further amendments. The Bill passed its third reading on 15 December 2010 and came into force on 1 January 2011.
Electoral (Finance Reform and Advance Voting) Amendment Act 2010
