Councillor and mayoral candidate Robert Lee. Photo / Laura Smith
A Rotorua mayoral candidate has had a campaign video hauled off YouTube, following a copyright and electoral breach complaint by the council he wishes to lead.
This complaint was one of 10 processed by Rotorua Lakes Council related to election breaches so far in this campaign – including one by council partner organisation Te Tatau o Te Arawa, which broke rules by offering gifts to “encourage voting”.
First-term councillor Robert Lee filmed his official mayoral campaign launch in August and uploaded it to YouTube.
The launch video included a three-minute council animation from 2017 about the role of Māori knowledge in wastewater treatment.
On September 26, YouTube advised Lee that “based on applicable copyright law”, his video had been taken down after a removal request by the council.
Lee contested the decision, arguing that using the council’s video for critique was “fair use”.
Under the 1994 Copyright Act, using copyrighted material is allowed without permission if it is for the purposes of criticism, review, or news reporting provided there is sufficient acknowledgement of the source - known as fair use.
Lee confirmed he was later informed by Rotorua’s deputy electoral officer Rick Dunn that, regardless of any copyright infringement, using the video breached election protocols.
The council’s 2025 Candidate Information Handbook states candidates are “not permitted to use council resources for campaigning purposes”, including “council social media pages”.
Other banned resources ranged from council-owned vehicles and facilities to office supplies.
The council’s YouTube page, along with that of RotoruaNZ, the library and museum, are all listed as official social media channels in the candidate handbook – alongside the council’s Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages.
Lee disagreed, calling it “simply absurd”, saying the rule clearly applied to using the council’s Facebook page, which he agreed with.
Lee used the animation to criticise how a plan to discharge treated wastewater into Lake Rotorua was withdrawn after Te Arawa opposition - what he characterised as an iwi “veto”.
Rotorua Lakes Council confirmed it had filed a copyright removal request with YouTube related to excerpts from council meeting recordings and the wastewater animation.
“Council content is provided for personal, non-commercial use only, and cannot be republished or altered without approval,” a council spokesperson said.
“Permission was not sought in this case.”
The council said Lee’s use of council material was not allowed under election protocols.
“[Permission] could not have been granted because council resources cannot be used for electioneering purposes,” the spokesperson said.
“This is in line with legal guidance and council’s own candidate information materials, which aim to protect the democratic process and ensure political neutrality.”
The council confirmed it had also sent Lee a “request to remove” another version of the video including the animation subsequently uploaded to video platform Rumble.
The council said it had issued 10 warnings for election breaches during the campaign period.
Seven were for “breaches relating to signage”, two for “use and copyright breaches relating to council assets (videos)” and one for a “voucher offer to encourage voting”.
In a Facebook post last week, Te Tatau o Te Arawa offered shopping and petrol vouchers worth up to $200 for “voting warriors” to collect papers from friends and whānau and put them in voting bins.
The board represents Te Arawa iwi in partnership with the council, and receives $372,500 in annual funding from the council.
It was told the offer was in breach of election protocols and voters were “required to post or deliver their own voting paper”.
A spokesperson for Te Tatau o Te Arawa said the error came from “enthusiasm to encourage people to vote”.
“This was immediately corrected once identified”, the post amended to remove references to the competition and voting paper pick-up.
Dunn confirmed they had “received some complaints” about the Facebook post.
“We contacted Te Tatau o Te Arawa who have now taken the post down,” Dunn said.
Voting for Rotorua’s local elections closes at noon on Saturday.
Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.