Police decision was theirs to make, says PM

Helen Clark

The police decision not to prosecute Labour over alleged election campaign law breaches was made in the same way other police decisions were made, Prime Minister Helen Clark says.

National has accused the police of a "gutless cop-out" for deciding not to prosecute Labour.

The police said they were not charging any political parties for alleged breaches of electoral law during last year's campaign, although a prima facie case existed against Labour.

They investigated six parties -- including National -- for overspending or using illegal advertising material during the campaign.

Labour was in trouble for not declaring the $446,000 it spent on its pledge card when it submitted its return to the Electoral Commission.

The money came from Helen Clark's leader's fund -- taxpayer money -- and the Electoral Commission said it should have included it.

That put Labour about $400,000 over its limit, and the leader's fund should not be used for campaigning anyway.

Acting Police Deputy Commissioner Roger Carson said there was a prima facie case technically, but there was not enough evidence to take it to court.

National MP Murray McCully said Labour tried to "rort the campaign budget" and everyone except the police seemed to know that.

Mr McCully's own party overspent its campaign budget. It says it made a mistake with GST, meaning it used more money than it should have for TV and radio advertising.

Mr Carson said police had not been able to pin down individual responsibility for that.

Helen Clark told Newstalk ZB today that the police must look at issues and weigh up what to do.

"Finding something as prima facie is a completely different matter from saying there's any evidence that would ever stand up in a court.

"In the run-of-the-mill routine police decision-making, decisions are made every day about whether or not something is worth proceeding with."

There was no suggestion that the Labour Party leader's fund exceeded the money available to it.

But the issue was whether that expenditure, and the expenditure from other parties, should have come from the leader's fund and that was what the Parliamentary Services Commission had to get clearer rules around, the prime minister said.

Labour's president, Mike Williams, said last week he was glad the investigation was over and called on politicians to re-write the law and rules that cover election spending.

All the parties have complained that the rules are a shambles, which they have blamed for anything wrong they might have done.

ACT, New Zealand First, the Greens and United Future were also investigated.

- NZPA