Christopher Luxon (left) and his National Party received almost $4 million more in donations last year than Chris Hipkins' Labour Party. Images / Getty Images
Christopher Luxon (left) and his National Party received almost $4 million more in donations last year than Chris Hipkins' Labour Party. Images / Getty Images
The National Party received more than $6 million in party donations last year, almost $4m more than the Labour Party.
The David Seymour-led Act Party also received more donations than Labour, reporting $2,445,255, compared with Labour’s $2,403,241.
The Electoral Commission released a breakdown of the donations and loans political partiesreceived in the 2025 year.
Parties must make annual returns which include identifying the individuals, trusts and companies that gave more than $5000. This threshold has since been increased to $6000, which will be reflected in next year’s returns.
National topped the list with $6,275,234 in party donations overall. This is more than the party received in 2024 but below the $10m it received for the 2023 election.
The largest donor to National was the late Nelson philanthropist John Wares, who died in March last year. Wares gave $210,000 to the party in February 2025.
The second largest donation came from Brian Cartmell, a Queenstown-based tech entrepreneur, who also made sizeable donations to other parties. Cartmell gave $201,993 to National in 2025.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's National Party received the most donations in 2025. Photo / Alyse Wright
Several companies donated smaller amounts to National, including property company Mansons, Crimson Education, Gibbston Valley Wines and Chinese vocational education provider Oriental Wisdom. Several MPs also made donations.
Labour
The more than $6m in donations reported by the National Party dwarfs the $2,403,241 reported by Labour. Two of the larger donations to Labour were from or connected to Phillip Mills, managing director of the Les Mills gym franchise and a regular political donor.
The top donor, the Mills Family Trust, for which Phillip Mills is the trustee, donated $125,000. Mills himself donated another $38,200.
Renowned artist Dick Frizzell donated almost $20,000 and former Prime Minister Helen Clark is listed as donating just under $11,000.
Celebrated artist Dick Frizzell was a donor to Labour in 2025. Photo / Dean Purcell.
Labour Party MPs also donated tens of thousands. Peeni Henare, who has since retired from politics, donated just under $14,000 and party leader Chris Hipkins gave just under $13,000.
The Green Party reported $1,848,678 in donations, including $100,000 from Nelson businessman Michael Lookman and $50,000 from the Les Mills managing director.
Green MPs donated tens of thousands to their party.
New Zealand First reported $1,360,272 in donations for 2025. Cartmell topped the list with a $205,000 donation. Dorothy Jones, the partner of minister Shane Jones and a party board member, donated $131,318.
The Opportunities Party received $179,401 in donations, more than double the amount it reported in 2024. Te Pāti Māori reported $141,986 in donations, including $60,000 from party president John Tamihere.
Broadcasting allocations
Earlier today, the Electoral Commission also announced the funding allocations for each political party to broadcast election advertising and programmes.
Parliament determines these amounts each year based on several factors including how many people voted for the party in the last election, the number of MPs the party has and indications of public support such as via political polls.
The amount available to distribute across the parties was $4,145,750.
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.
