KEY POINTS:
Labour might retract its commitment to repay more than $800,000 of unlawful election spending if New Zealand First overturns the Auditor-General's report in a legal challenge.
And other parties may be dragging their heels on repayment in the hope that a challenge will change the public's expectations that
they pay.
Labour president Mike Williams said yesterday that the party was still raising funds to pay the money by the end of June. But that could be reassessed if NZ First was successful.
"If the decision of the Auditor-General is turned over by a NZ First action, we will reconsider the matter.
"We haven't paid anything back yet because we haven't got it yet. We are over halfway there but we have got a lot of fundraising to do."
NZ First is expected to receive its final legal advice within days and to decide in the next few weeks whether to mount a challenge.
The party leader, Foreign Minister Winston Peters, said yesterday he expected a decision "sooner rather than later".
"We have put some significant work into it ... but the final legal advice has not come in yet."
Mr Peters would not confirm rumours that the party was poised to challenge the findings, but he suggested that if other parties benefited from a NZ First challenge, they might consider subsidising the costs.
"If we did go down that path - and we have not yet decided that - then a pro rata contribution to our legal costs would be gratefully received."
It is understood that MPs from Labour, the Greens and United Future have privately encouraged NZ First to take a legal challenge.
NZ First is the only parliamentary party that has not agreed to repay its share of the $1.2 million in parliamentary money that Auditor-General Kevin Brady found was unlawfully spent on electioneering.
Speaker Margaret Wilson has advised parties to repay in the interests of maintaining public confidence in Parliament, but also commissioned a private legal opinion from her own lawyer, Jack Hodder, that contested the Auditor-General's finding.
NZ First has several specific objections to Mr Brady's findings, one being that an invoice for a general leaflet on the party for distribution over a three-year period was sent just inside the review period, three months before the 2005 election.
National Party leader John Key said last night that it was "pretty staggering" that Labour would consider not repaying the amount, even if a legal challenge succeeded.
Repaying money to the public coffers had always been a moral issue - and it taken Labour a year to say that it would do so.
United Future leader Peter Dunne said his party was still collecting the money and had yet to repay it.
Asked if United Future might change its mind in the event of a successful challenge he said, "We will wait and see what happens.
"It depends what the point of the challenge is. But I think most people want to see that particular episode put behind us and that is certainly our thinking."
Green co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons could not be contacted but the party is not thought to have repaid any money yet.
National, the Maori Party and Act have paid. The Progressives did not spend parliamentary funds unlawfully, it was found.
Act leader Rodney Hide said he did not think NZ First had a chance of winning but if it did, he did not think Labour would pay.
"The Labour Party has gone through every possible contortion to avoid paying back this money and it's unbelievable that they are now relying on Winston Peters' legal skills for an excuse not to cough up."
Paid
National: $11,912
Act: $20,114
Maori Party: $54
Outstanding
Labour: $824,524
New Zealand First: $157,934
Greens: $87,192
United Future: $71,867
