Labour Party leader Andrew Little. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Labour Party leader Andrew Little. Photo / Mark Mitchell
In the glossy programme handed out at the Labour Party's annual conference was a full page ad asking delegates to remember the Labour Party in their wills. There was even a special email address specifically for those looking to leave a bequest.
There were also raffles. Lots of raffles. Therewas some Crown Lynn for the Rangitikei electorate, a photo of Helen Clark, a basket of goodies and so on. A lot of money can be drummed up from pennies. But it is the pounds Labour needs. The sizes of its deficits are not appalling and largely down to unforeseen events, such as byelections and contests after leadership changes. The leadership elections were optimistically listed under the heading: "other costs that don't happen every year". But the fact Labour lacks funding to act as a cushion against such events is concerning. A party can not continue to tap into its cash reserves or sell property forever.
Its annual report highlights how hard things were for Labour in the last election campaign. Its "war chest" in 2014 was one quarter the size of National's and even the Green Party raised more. And Labour's donations were not even enough to cover its election advertising let alone the $1 million it spent on top of those costs.
Much of its revenue is internal rather than from donations. More than half of its annual running costs are paid for by levies on MPs, affiliated unions and local electorates. It also relies on internally run fundraising, such as the raffles at the conference.
It is little wonder president Professor Nigel Haworth sounded the alarm, telling delegates that it was everyone's job to fundraise, not "someone else's problem".
Prone to blunting any hard talk with humour, he added "and there will be a lot more raffles, I tell you".
Leader Andrew Little also raised the issue more obliquely with a reference to "party machines that needed to be fixed".
In the past, Labour has adopted a slight moue in the mouth when the topic of big money was raised. But being on a high horse is one of the causes of its poverty. Little and Haworth are both pragmatic on that count and the efforts Little has asked his MPs to put into wooing business audiences are not solely aimed at policy building. In the meantime, Labour has to find a way to continue to swipe at National for years of deficits when it does not have its own books in order.
