Coalition For Open Government, New Zealand

So you’re an ordinary New Zealander who feels strongly about a political issue. Maybe you think that New Zealand should remain GE-Free, or are opposed to the repeal of section 59 of the Crimes Act. The election hasn’t been called yet, but it’s election year. How would this Election Finance Bill affect you?

Well if you wanted to spend more than $5000, you’d have to register with the Chief Electoral Officer, appoint a financial agent, and perhaps an auditor and then file expense returns and donation returns after the election. But you’re not that fancy. Or that rich. You couldn’t afford to spend that much even if you wanted to; maybe you’re a stay-at-home parent who’s scared of being criminalised if section 59 is repealed; you’re a student worried about genetic engineering.

You want to go to a protest. Campaign by sticking up posters and raising awareness. Make some clever mash-up and post it on YouTube. Let’s see how the law treats you…

The GE-obsessed student. You don’t have a lot of money, so you want to buy a bucket of that big chalk and scrawl “Keep NZ GE Free” on the pavement near University and along Lambton Quay near the Beehive on the eve of a Government decision on whether to allow a particular GE field trial.

You can buy the chalk pretty easily, but before you use it you’ve got to make a statutory declaration under the Oaths and Declarations Act declaring that the expenses incurred in respect of all the electoral advertising you have done that year or intend to do that year, will not exceed $5000.

You’ve never heard of making a statutory declaration about future events, but you do it anyway. And because you’re not only the promoter of the election advertisement, but also the publisher, you give the statutory declaration to yourself.

Now you’re ready to chalk. So you scrawl “GE Free NZ” and “Keep NZ GE Free” all over the place. Of course, it’s election year, and taking a position on GE is election advertising, so at each and every place where you write this, you add a statement that sets out your name and your full residential address.

The section 59 opposing parent. You’re not inclined toward that sort of guerilla campaigning, so you’re helping to organise a protest march. You’ll hold up a sign declaring “don’t criminalise good parents” and will hand out small leaflets to interested people along the protest route. You’ve bought paint for the sign, and gotten an old sign from a real estate agent to put it on. You put your name and full residential address on it and you make a statutory declaration which you give to yourself. You’ve gotten some little leaflets printed, and given half-a-dozen other protesters these to hand out; these also have your name and address on them – you’re the promoter, but since they’re handing them out, not you, they’re the publisher, so you give each of them a statutory declaration promising that you’ll be spending less than $5000.

Someone videos you speaking at the protest, and you think you did pretty well, so you put it on YouTube with footage of the protest and other speakers. While the speech itself was an election advertisement, the actual speaking didn’t amount to a publication. Now that YouTube is storing it electronically in a way accessible to the public you know that counts as it being published so you send Google a statutory declaration too – and you make sure to include your full name and residential address with the video.

And you do it all again next time you campaign. Or Stick up posters. Or post footage of a protest on YouTube. Even if you’re 14, and had no idea what a statutory declaration was or have been told not to give out your address on-line. Even if all you spend over the whole of election year is $10.

Even if it doesn’t cost you any money at all.

There is no minimum amount of election advertising before your have to do all this. No matter how small your election-year political campaign, no matter how remote from the election itself, if you’re publishing just about any form of words or graphics that takes a position on a proposition associated with any party or any electorate candidate, then the Election Finance Bill would regulate your actions.

Remember that this criticism comes from a person who, and a group that, favours changes to the laws around third party advertising during the election.

It’s a little overboard, don’t you think?

Graeme Edgeler
Coalition for Open Government