National defends selling dinner with Christopher Luxon for $1500

National Party leader Christopher Luxon will dine with National donors at the Hilton Hotel. Photo / Mike Scott

The National Party is selling tickets to a fundraising “President’s dinner” at Auckland’s Hilton hotel with leader Christopher Luxon for $1500 a head.

Such dinners are not unusual for political parties - Labour recently held a "Business Conference" attended by Jacinda Ardern, costing $1795 (excluding GST). The John Key-led National Party held at least 53 "Cabinet Club" fundraisers where people paid as much as $10,000 to meet Key and ministers.

Such events are frequently criticised for appearing to be "cash-for-access" fundraisers, in which political parties appear to offer access to key politicians in exchange for donations.

A National Party spokesperson said National relied on "donations from New Zealanders".

"Our annual President's dinner is part of our standard fundraising activity alongside a wide range of other activities that includes things like email requests, raffles, breakfasts, and auctions," the spokesperson said. Invites for the dinner went out recently.

The dinner is hosted by National president Sylvia Wood, and an invitation says it will be attended by both Christopher Luxon and Amanda, his wife. Deputy Leader Nicola Willis will MC the event. The invitation says tickets can be purchased for $1500 each, or $15,000 for a table of 10 - meaning there is no discount for bulk-purchasing. Both prices are GST-inclusive. National has had a good year for donations, netting $1.8 million from wealthy New Zealanders in a drive spearheaded by former deputy leader Paula Bennett.

Labour has had less luck with wealthy donors, with only one individual donor giving more than $30,000 this year - Robert Smellie KC, who gave $100,000 in April.

The party has tried to tap donors for smaller sums: a $25 Zoom fundraiser with Ardern, at which people could ask questions of the Prime Minister.

The party also hosted a Zoom conversation between Ardern and former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard, costing $40.

The funding of political parties has become a political issue recently with the Greens pushing for state funding of political parties.

A Government working group is currently reviewing electoral laws.

One thing it is considering is the issue of funding of political parties, and public funding has been promoted as an alternative to parties' relying on private donations – an argument that was reignited after a stream of court cases relating to political donations.

However, a Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll from October suggested the public was not keen on the idea.

In the poll of 1000 eligible voters, 61 per cent said they opposed taxpayer funding of political parties while only 19 per cent supported it.