Political reaction: Election spending report

Party leaders reacted rapidly to today's report by Auditor-general Kevin Brady into election spending:

"Labour has strongly stated its case, as was its right. The Party welcomes the Auditor-General's finding that inadequate guidance has been available to MPs and parliamentary parties on what constitutes appropriate advertising, particularly in the pre-election period.

"The Auditor-General' investigation has opened up a number of issues relating to how politics is conducted.

"Refunding the money is one step in a series of responses which need to be taken to ensure public confidence in the political process. The government will also seek to introduce the validating legislation which, we are advised, is required under the Public Finance Act and which the Speaker has recommended.

"Clear rules are also needed governing parliamentary funding for communications going forward.

"The government would also be drafting legislation to bring greater transparency to political funding and campaigns.

"We do this not to discourage participation but rather to encourage it. Politics is a public business and it requires transparency. New Zealanders are far more likely to want to get involved in and support politics if they know our system is open, transparent, and clean."

Don Brash said: "Labour has been caught red handed with its fingers in the till.

"National is deeply saddened that it has taken more than a year for Helen Clark to reluctantly do the right thing. Labour has led a dirty campaign punctuated by threats and bullying.

"Public confidence in Parliament has been dented by the attacks on officials who have tried to hold Labour to account.

"In the process Helen Clark has tarnished the reputation of those who were charged with protecting the integrity of our democracy.

"I congratulate the Auditor-General for not succumbing to Helen Clark's threats and thank the chief electoral officer, the electoral commission and the solicitor general for quite properly pursuing this serious matter.

"What needs to happen now is that Helen Clark needs to take responsibility and she must apologise to the officials, and the media organisations that her Government has attacked and threatened.

"I await with interest the police response to my letter requesting an explanation over that decision. It is clear that if the material is electioneering in the eyes of the Auditor-General, it falls under the Electoral Act and should have been included in Labours election return."

Peter Dunne said: "The Auditor-General's findings in respect of United Future's pre-election spending come as a considerable shock.

"With the exception of the items I identified yesterday which amounted to approximately $5,000, all our expenditure was vetted by the Parliamentary Service and amended as required, prior to being carried out.

"We have acted in good faith throughout, a point acknowledged by the Auditor-General when I met him on 5 October.

"We agree with Madam Speaker's comment that parties thought they were acting lawfully and that there was no evidence that parties deliberately failed to comply.

"We will now consider the implications of both reports thoroughly and will report our views to Madam Speaker as directed and within the time frame stated."

Winston Peters said: "NZ First can and will repay parliamentary funds if the Auditor General can convince the party of what it did wrong.

"New Zealand First had already identified some 'rats and mice expenditure that should never have gone to Parliamentary Services for payment, and that money would be repaid.

"We now need to sit down with our lawyers and go through the Auditor General's very detailed report line by line to try to understand how he has come to the conclusion that the rest of our spending was wrong.

"On initial consideration parts of the report appear contradictory and contestable, and Chapman Tripp's independent legal opinion also casts doubt over the report's legal sustainability.

"New Zealand First has always recognised the responsibility associated with taxpayer funds, and we have always gone the extra mile to ensure absolute accountability. We have also consistently under-spent our funding entitlements by millions since 1993.

"If the report shows us clearly where we went wrong, we can and will repay the money.

"However I am at a loss as to why the Auditor General is now finding fault with us when we have done nothing different to what we have done for the past 13 years.

"We have always been scrupulous about getting Parliamentary Services approval before spending funds, and the rules have not changed since the 2002 election.

"The Auditor General may have talked to the two old parties about spending before the election but he did not speak to New Zealand First or any of the minor parties.

"The bulk of our parliamentary funding was on two policy pamphlets that were part of our normal three-yearly cycle of promoting New Zealand First policy."

"While we respect the Office of the Auditor General, we disagree with the Auditor Generals reasoning and conclusions. We believe that his findings will make it more difficult for MPs to carry out their work for their constituents effectively.

"Obviously we are disappointed with the outcome, however, as we said earlier the six MPs and the Party will pay any money that is ultimately found to have been outside the rules. At this early stage it is still unclear whether there will be any legal challenge to the Auditor General's report from other parties, which could result in his having to amend his findings.

"For us an amount of $87,000 is a substantial sum and we will be writing to our members and supporters seeking some financial assistance. It is important to note that the Green Party will not have breached its election spending cap even if this amount were included in our total election expenditure.

"We have already said we will not be supporting any retrospective validating legislation, as we do not think this is the best way to clarify the rules. We will decide whether to oppose or abstain once we have seen any draft legislation.

"What is important is that there is a process put in place to make sure the rules are clarified for the next election. This could involve legislation. There is no point in the Auditor General going through this scrutinising process if MPs are only going to find themselves in the same position next time.

"The parties must work together to find a resolution that gives the public confidence that taxpayers money is being spent appropriately and leaves all MPs able to carry out their duties and responsibilities as parliamentarians, Mrs Turei says.

"We are still adamant that the bulk of our spending was within the rules as we understood them, based on the Speakers direction and Members Handbook."

"We are frustrated that the nation is expected to wait until next Thursday before parliamentary parties can be held to be accountable.

"The concerns around parliamentary advertising have been lurking for the last twelve months and more.

"This situation is becoming farcical and does not reflect well on Parliament.

"The Maori Party endorses the comments from the Speaker, that it is essential that the matter is resolved if public confidence in Parliament is to be maintained.

"In a study released by the Electoral Commission in July 2006, Understanding of MMP in the 2005 NZES survey; a third of nearly 3000 survey participants, when asked how much trust and confidence they had in parliament, were close to the centre.

"We need to do much better in Parliament, if we are to encourage public confidence.

"We also welcome the response of the Prime Minister in stating that Politics is a public business and it requires transparency.

"We were, therefore, extremely disappointed that the House was unable, today, to debate a matter which has consumed so much time and public profile over the last year."

"The Auditor-General and Speaker Margaret Wilson had both presented very good reports and he would pay back the money.

"It wasn't my party that agreed to this funding. It was me so I am actually taking the step of writing the cheque.

"We have not decided whether to support validating legislation.

"We have to accept his findings. I think everyone's acted in good faith here. We certainly have, we tried to comply with the rules. The Auditor-General has found we haven't and so what we have done is written the cheque."