Mr Green's hedge handiwork in the clear

Richard Green's hedge was the subject of a complaint laid under the Electoral Finance Act. Photo / Greg Bowker

Faced with ruling on the somewhat bizarre case of a green hedge pruned by a Green Party member called Mr Green, the Electoral Commission has, for want of a better word, hedged its findings.

The commission has made no determination on a pre-election complaint from a member of the public that the hedge on the Auckland property of opera singer Richard Green constituted an election advertisement under the since defunct Electoral Finance Act.

For Mr Green, who will appear in Opera New Zealand productions of works by Rossini and Tchaikovsky this year, the legal wrangle over the status of his hedge has been something more akin to a Gilbert and Sullivan farce. "It is hilariously funny. It does indicate there are people out there who need to get out more."

His hedge is no ordinary hedge. He has pruned it to display the word "Green" in two-metre high letters - something the singing teacher says he has done for the past eight years to make it easier for students to find his house on what is a busy street.

However, Mr Green, who stood for the Greens in Tamaki against National's Sir Robert Muldoon in the 1990 election, confirmed he was still a member of the Green Party.

Three days before the last election someone whose identity has not been disclosed by the commission laid a formal complaint, saying the pruning had produced something similar to the Green Party logo. As an advertisement, it lacked the necessary accompanying authorising statement.

Invited by the commission to comment, Mr Green said the hedge was his professional plaque and not an advertisement for the Green Party.

Releasing its ruling, the commission said that even if the hedge was an election advertisement, the potential contravention had not been wilful and therefore no offence had been committed.

Mr Green said he did not know who had laid the complaint, but said he had heard his hedge had been a hot topic at a local National Party meeting during last year's election campaign.

While the Electoral Finance Act had since been repealed by National, he thought the police might still be able to lay a prosecution retrospectively. However, he said he was not living in fear of the police knocking on his door to arrest him.