KEY POINTS:
Justice Minister Annette King last night revealed she was present in the Labour Party congress session when a delegate suggested using Government department brochures as campaigning tools.
But she said she had been talking to Cabinet colleague Phil Goff about the next session they were running, there was
a lot of chattering and it hadn't registered.
"In fact, I didn't even remember it afterwards, to be quite frank."
Prime Minister Helen Clark has forbidden the use of any such Government material as inappropriate and admonished president Mike Williams for telling delegates it was a good idea.
Ms King - who is responsible for the Electoral Finance Act - told the Herald she was present after National dropped heavy hints in the House during question time that she had been.
The confirmation was made in a briefing from Ms King and Helen Clark in the Prime Minister's office.
Helen Clark said that if she had been at the session herself, and heard the idea raised, she was certain she would have said "hang on a minute".
"But I honestly think that at 8.30 in the morning people have their minds on other things. There was a lot of chatter going on and things went over their heads."
National's deputy Bill English has seized on the Government leaflet issue as part of his campaign against the Electoral Finance Act. He says it was part of a Labour strategy to shut up its critics and use Government publicity to promote its own policies.
Ms King said the notion that distributing Government leaflets was part of a strategy to win the election was "absolute hogwash".
It was a comment made by a delegate. "It didn't rate a mention from anybody else that I can recall. My recollection is the president may have said `that's a good idea' or something like that. That was the nature of the whole interaction.
"It was certainly not Labour Party planning to `screw scrums', use material or anything like that. I think it has been taken right out of context."
Meanwhile, an MP's regular weekly email newsletter is the latest item to fall foul of the act.
The decision, by the chief electoral officer, that Act MP Heather Roy's weekly diary is election material has wide-ranging implications for MPs' communications and has prompted a fresh round of confusion.
The newsletter, one of several sent out continuously for several years by MPs, differs little from the many press releases parties put out every day - suggesting they might also be covered by the act.
The newsletter now has to carry an authorisation from the party's financial agent and the expense of producing and distributing it will probably have to be counted as an election expense.
National leader John Key said yesterday the law was a muddle and Mr English, said it was "complex, confusing and chaotic".
Mrs Roy said Act had submitted several items to the chief electoral officer to see if they constituted electioneering and were told the newsletter did.
She was "staggered", as the newsletter, which people had to subscribe to, had been going out for six years and many of those who received it were Act members.
"I saw it as me being a good MP and communicating with constituents - it is always on topical issues," she told Radio Live.
"The message that has come back, really, is that if you want to comply the incentive is for MPs to do nothing ..."
The suggestion of distributing pamphlets from Inland Revenue on KiwiSaver and Work and Income on Working For Families was made in a strategy session run by Mr Williams on Saturday morning.
Asked if it had registered alarm with her, Ms King said: "It was so quick."
She was surprised to read about it in the newspaper. "I don't think it registered with many people."
