Guy Nathan: Electoral (Finance Reform and Advance Voting) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Guy Nathan: Electoral (Finance Reform and Advance Voting) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:662;Page:10716] 
Hon NATHAN GUY (Acting Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I move  
That the Electoral (Finance Reform and Advance Voting) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be referred to the Electoral Legislation Committee which has been established to consider this bill and the Electoral Referendum Bill. Electoral finance law is fundamental to New Zealand’s democratic system. The regime must be impartial fair and transparent so that the people of New Zealand have confidence in our elections. I also add that as far as possible electoral law should also be the product of cross-party consensus as this is the path most likely to lead to enduring solutions. 
As part of this Government’s pre-election platform the Electoral Finance Act 2007 was repealed within our first 100 days in office. An interim regime was put in place and we began a consultative process. It started with a scope paper published in April and this was followed by an issues paper released in May and a proposal document released in September. We also held public forums in Auckland Wellington and Christchurch. This bill is a result of that consultative process and it is the fourth bill in the Government’s electoral reform programme. 
As the title suggests the bill is divided into two primary areas: finance reform and advance voting. The primary purpose of this bill is to amend electoral finance law in areas where there is broad-based consensus for reform. This bill will provide certainty to electoral agencies political parties candidates and the public. 
It aims to improve the understanding and application of electoral law. To recognise the impact of new technology and media the bill updates the definition of “election advertisement” to cover advertising by all forms of media. 
The bill also sets up a regulatory regime for third-party promoters that emphasises transparency rather than restrictions on the freedom of expression. It requires third-party promoters to register with the Electoral Commission if they spend or intend to spend over $12000 on election advertising in the regulated campaign period. The bill does not include an expenditure limit for third-party promoters. The register of information on third-party promoters will ensure that the public know who is funding political campaigns. In addition to getting authorisation from candidates or political parties for positive advertising all promoters will have to disclose their name and their residential or physical address on all types of election advertisements. Campaign spending limits for candidates and parties were last changed in 1995. Under this bill they will be allowed to increase at the rate of inflation to ensure that they are not set at levels that have become unrealistic over time. 
This bill clarifies how expenses can be apportioned where advertisements serve a dual purpose such as advertisements for both a candidate and a political party. Although these expenses have historically been apportioned between the party and the candidate the decision in the  
Peters v Clarkson 
 case suggests that those expenses should count in whole against both the party and the candidate. This bill reinstates the historical position that advertising expenses are to be apportioned between candidates and parties based on each one’s coverage in the particular ad. 
Many aspects of the donations regime in the Electoral Finance Act have been retained. However this bill improves the transparency of donations to political parties by adding two features. It introduces a new requirement for political parties and candidates to disclose in bands their total income from donations. It also includes an associated entity test to stop companies closely associated with each other from making separate donations to get around the disclosure requirements. 
The bill also makes changes to the regulated campaign period. We propose that the regulated campaign period be no longer than 3 months rather than up to 11 months as under the Electoral Finance Act. The Minister of Justice signalled this change to the Speaker to ensure that amendments to the Parliamentary Service Act with regard to election advertising would be consistent with the Electoral Act. Following the Speaker’s consultation with parliamentary parties it was agreed that the regulated period should no longer apply retrospectively and is possible under the current law. This means that there needs to be a trigger for the regulated period where an election is called less than 3 months from polling date. Therefore this bill provides that the regulated campaign period will now start 3 months before the last possible date of an election where an election has not been announced before that date or 3 months prior to polling day where an election is announced more than 3 months prior to polling day or from the date that the election is announced where it is announced less than 3 months from polling date. 
The Government is also using this bill as an opportunity to implement one of the Justice and Electoral Committee’s recommendations from its inquiry into the 2008 general election with regard to advance voting. The committee asked the Government to consider removing the existing restrictions on advance voting and the requirement to complete a written declaration in advance. This bill amends the Electoral Act accordingly. I hope that this will remove a potential impediment to those who may consider casting their vote in advance. 
I thank the electoral agencies for their valuable advice parliamentary parties and the public for their input and submissions that were made during the development of this bill. Given the importance the Government has placed on consultation and consensus in the development of this bill it has proceeded with only those reforms that have broad-based support. However the select committee process is an opportunity for the public to persuade parties from across the House that there may be other areas where reform to our electoral finance laws is desirable and I think we should approach those submissions with a very open mind. I commend this bill to the House.