Greens in dark over how much they owe

The Green Party's $30,000 discount from its election spending bill may be in jeopardy, but it won't find out until tomorrow.

The party convinced Auditor-General Kevin Brady to reduce the amount it unlawfully spent in the last election from $95,000 to $65,000 by excluding the cost of its regular newsletter Green Times.

It then said it would repay the $65,000 to Parliamentary Service, a move which has angered Labour, which has been resisting pressure to make any such commitment.

But since then the Greens have been involved in more negotiations with Mr Brady's office because the newsletters delivered in Wellington and Auckland had leaflets inserted in them outlining the party's public transport policy for those cities.

They were printed at the same time and paid for by Parliament.

"They weren't 'vote Green' or anything like that," said co-leader Russel Norman.

"They just said 'this is Green policy for public transport in Auckland and Wellington', but you are not allowed to tell your policy, apparently."

He did not know how much of the $30,000 was back in contention and said he did not expect to know until tomorrow when the Auditor-General's report was tabled in Parliament.

"It's a question of where they are going to draw the line."

The Greens believed that because they published Green Times regularly throughout the term it would not be counted as electioneering material in Mr Brady's review of taxpayer spending within the three months before an election.

But supported by a Solicitor-General's opinion and case law reinforced as recently as last year when Winston Peters unsuccessfully challenged his ousting in Tauranga, electioneering material is defined as words or sounds and images intended to persuade the voter to support a party or candidate and published within three months of an election.

Because publication of Green Times had been on the cusp of the three-month statutory period, it had been allowed.

In Parliament yesterday, National continued its attack over parliamentary funding of Labour's $447,000 pledge card, focusing on an admission 10 days ago by strategist and minister Pete Hodgson that it was seen as electioneering by the public.

"If it wasn't, we would put out a pledge card after the election, not before it," he was quoted as saying in the Sunday Star-Times.

The statement is at odds with the rules of Parliament, which allow funding for parliamentary business, not electioneering.

Prime Minister Helen Clark turned the tables on National over its spending because of its failure to pay GST on the bill for its election broadcasting.

If it pays the GST of $112,000, it will commit an offence under the Broadcasting Act by overspending its statutory limit, and be liable for a fine of $100,000.

National leader Don Brash said the money was in a trust account and he unsuccessfully sought leave to introduce a private member's bill that would allow the party to pay its outstanding bills.