National’s New Plymouth MP David MacLeod is standing down from two parliamentary select committees after having to correct his election return to the Electoral Commission.
In his original return, MacLeod mistakenly failed to declare 19 candidate donations.
“This error was inadvertent. I mistakenly thought the return was for 2023 only, and the 2022 donations had already been filed. Clearly, I was wrong,” he said.
MacLeod received 18 donations in 2022 worth $168,335. The error was picked up last week by the National Party as part of its annual consolidation of its accounts.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon said MacLeod had failed to meet the high standards the party expected of its MPs, and he was standing him down from the Environment Select Committee, which MacLeod had chaired, and the Finance and Expenditure Committee.