KEY POINTS:
Electoral officials will be asked toconsider if press statements on the www.beehive.govt.nz website are election advertisements under the Electoral Finance Act, as National continues to highlight difficulties with the new law.
The status of press releases issued by ministers was raised yesterdayduring a select committee appearance by the
heads of Ministerial Services, a unit of the Department of Internal Affairs that administers ministerial offices.
Brendan Boyle, Secretary of Internal Affairs, revealed that his department had sought legal advice on how to handle press statements put out by ministers' offices since the new law.
He said an in-house legal team had provided the advice, with involvement from Crown Law, the Parliamentary Service and the State Services Commission.
The result was a set of guidelines issued to all ministerial staff, and Mr Boyle did not think anything now on the Beehive website broke the law.
"We've got no reason to believe that there's anything in contravention."
Under the Electoral Finance Act, the Beehive website cannot carry something that constitutes an election advertisement - although exactly what constitutes an advertisement is still being tested.
Newsletters and press releases remain something of a grey area, very much dependent on the specific contents of the publication.
National's finance spokesman, Bill English, challenged Ministerial Services on why it had no problem running statements containing the phrase "Labour-led Government" on its website, when the Treasury had been advised by Crown Law recently not to use that phrase in Budget documentation.
The phrase was deleted from Budget press releases as a result.
Mr English said there appeared to be a discrepancy between the views of two different departments.
"On the face of it, there is an issue," he said. "One department says it can't use Labour-led Government, another one thinks it's okay."
Mr English later told the Herald National would be forwarding examples of press statements on the Beehive website carrying the phrase "Labour-led Government" to the Electoral Commission in the next couple of days for it to consider.
He said the contents of the press releases were quite straightforward political material, but it was not clear what the new law meant.
Mr Boyle said staff in ministerial offices were being told to consider each item they put out on a case-by-case basis - having a blanket rule was far more difficult.
The guidelines staff were operating under suggest they take into account the following factors that might indicate whether a "communication" is an election advertisement:
* References in the communication to the election itself.
* References either direct or indirect to MPs' and/or their party's policy for the election, or what they will do if elected or re-elected.
* References to a candidate who is not an existing MP.
* Formatting or branding of a communication in a manner similar to the party's own election campaign material.
* The timing of the communication in relation to the party's election policy announcements.
* The extent to which the communication criticises other parties or candidates, whether or not the other party or candidate is expressly referred to.
* References either direct or indirect that measure an MP and/or their party's effectiveness/success during the parliamentary term or previously.
