KEY POINTS:
The National Party wants the Government to drop a rule that lets MPs use taxpayer money in the build-up to an election without including it in their election expenses.
The change is one the National Party, which vigorously opposes the Electoral Finance Bill, will push for as it
seeks to highlight the legislation's problems when it returns for its final stages in Parliament next week.
Under the bill, any activities carried out by an MP "in his or her capacity as a member of Parliament" are not included in his or her election expenses.
However, National deputy leader Bill English said the exemption for MPs and Leaders' Office spending should be dropped for the final three months of a campaign because it put MPs on a different footing from other candidates and the public at a time when everything an MP does is "all politics".
He said the legislation protected both MPs' and Leaders' Office budgets from scrutiny as to whether spending was electioneering, giving them a significant advantage over new candidates.
"You can't create an exemption for anything you do as an MP in the lead-up to the election. It's all politics - anyone knows that. It's quite normal behaviour, but it should be recognised that way."
National will also put in amendments to further narrow the definition of election advertising and to shorten the regulated election period within which special restrictions apply.
The legislation will extend this from the current three-month term to up to 11 months, by starting it on January 1 of any election year.
The amendments are unlikely to get enough support to pass, but they will highlight National's main arguments on the issue - that Labour is passing the law to suit its own purposes and putting other candidates at a financial disadvantage to sitting MPs when campaigning.
But National's shadow attorney-general, Chris Finlayson, said many of the party's amendments were not politically loaded, and included technical issues such as auditing requirements.
"That's not party political - it's just listening to the advice of experts who said it wouldn't work."
The process the bill has gone through has become as controversial as the provisions within it, after the Law Society and Human Rights Commission criticised the Government's refusal to return the vastly revised version to the select committee for further public submissions.
In Parliament, National has criticised Justice Minister Annette King for proposing to make further amendments and for her comments that "the law of common sense" would apply in cases where the law was unclear.
However, Ms King has said it was not common for bills to have "technical" amendments inserted at the final stages.
She has one definite amendment planned and a number of possible "technical" amendments.
Her amendment will change the cut-off date for groups wanting to take part in the election from writ day - usually about a month before the election - to nomination day - three weeks before the election.
Advice to the select committee shows the policy decision behind the cut-off date was to prevent "surprise" campaigning, by ensuring all groups wanting to take part were identified early on.
But submitters including the Law Society and Human Rights Commission said it would block people from responding to issues that arose only in the crucial late stages of the campaign by restricting them to a $12,000 spending limit, rather than the $120,000 they could spend if they were registered.
The amendment falls short of Electoral Commission advice to the select committee for the cut-off date to be dropped altogether, warning it "will effectively prevent individuals and groups from making a contribution to debate during the critical campaign period".
WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT
* Under the bill spending by MPs does not count under their own or their party election spending caps if it is work "in his or her capacity as a member of Parliament".
* The exemption is to allow MPs to continue their usual work - such as constituency work - without worrying it will be caught as election expenses from the new January 1 start of the electoral period.
* National's amendment would mean that in the three months before an election, the exemption would not apply.
