National's former campaign manager and new list candidate Steven Joyce has defended the Exclusive Brethren's right to wage a third-party campaign in 2005, but says he no longer has contact with the group.

National announced yesterday that Mr Joyce and Korean-born television broadcaster Melissa Lee would get spots as list-only candidates.

There are a maximum of five such positions which are usually ranked high on the list.

But the announcement immediately drew fire from Prime Minister Helen Clark who said Mr Joyce's list nomination demonstrated that National still had a far-right agenda it wasn't being honest about.

Mr Joyce was one of the key background players featured in Nicky Hager's 2006 book The Hollow Men, which made disclosures about former leader Don Brash's links with the Exclusive Brethren.

The book detailed Mr Joyce's involvement in meetings with the shadowy religious group, in using controversial Australian political strategy company Crosby-Textor and approving billboards such as Iwi-Kiwi.

Mr Joyce today acknowledged his role in liaising with the Brethren, but said he treated them like any other group that wanted to help National and referred them to the Chief Electoral Officer to make sure they knew the rules.

"I was not involved with them as a go-between," he said on Radio New Zealand.

However, he defended the right of third parties to campaign under the laws at the time.

"At the end of the day the third party groups had a right under the Electoral Act to do what they did. Labour had the unions doing it for years.

"The National Party doesn't control who campaigns for or against the government of the day. The people have a democratic right and they choose what they do."

He said he was no longer in contact with the group.

Miss Clark yesterday said the list position "must be a reward for being part of the Hollow Men, raising the money, organising the Brethren.

"What I think it really shows is nothing has changed about the National Party."

Mr Joyce yesterday said criticism of his previous role was to be expected.

"I suppose you expect a bit of dirt to be thrown and frankly you suppose it's par for the course," he told NZPA.

"I am just confident that everything that National did in that campaign among the campaign team was in keeping with the Electoral Act."

The party had fronted up over failing to pay GST while other parties had avoided dealing with breaches, he said.

Mr Joyce was former chief executive of RadioWorks New Zealand, a company he co-founded in the late 1980s.

National leader John Key said the party would benefit from Mr Joyce's political and business experience.