By KEVIN TAYLOR political reporter
Taxpayer-funded newspaper advertisements have joined taxpayer-funded billboards as the latest device being used by political parties to get public attention.
United Future is running full-page advertisements in daily newspapers, giving voters an "annual report" of the party's achievements nearly a year after the last election.
The colour advertisement, which ran in the New Zealand Herald yesterday and will run in other major dailies today, joins a host of billboards being put up by opposition parties.
National, New Zealand First and Act have erected billboards in recent months touting party slogans.
Green Party co-leader Rod Donald said yesterday that the spending of taxpayers' money on billboards and newspaper advertising by political parties should be reviewed.
"I think parties are being very creative on how they are spending taxpayers' funds, but I'm not sure that's meeting taxpayer expectations."
He intends to raise his concerns with the multi-party Parliamentary Service Commission, headed by Speaker Jonathan Hunt.
United Future leader Peter Dunne said yesterday that the newspaper advertisements were paid for out of the party's parliamentary budget. He could not say what the campaign had cost but it was a "significant sum", and was a one-off.
The wording of the advertisement had been cleared with the Parliamentary Service before publication, and some minor changes had been made.
Mr Dunne said rather than just do a "cheap billboard approach" United Future had wanted to do something more constructive.
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