Maori Party 'shocked' as $3.2m election funding dished out

ELECTORAL COMMISSION FUNDING

National: $1.5. million + 36 minutes airtime
Labour: $1.5. million + 36 minutes
Greens: $300,000 + 15 minutes
Act: $160,000 + 5.5 minutes
Maori Party: $160,000 + 9 minutes
United Future: $100,000 + 9 minutes
Alliance: $20,000 + 5.5 minutes
Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party:$20,000 + 2 minutes
Coalition of New Zealanders: $20,000 + 2 minutes
Kiwi Party: $20,000 + 2 minutes
Libertarianz: $20,000 + 2 minutes
New Zealand Sovereignty Party: $20,000 + 2 minutes
Pirate Party: $20,000 + 2 minutes
World Peace Party: $20,000 + 2 minutes
Mana Party: $0

The Maori Party is crying foul while the Greens are feeling validated after finding out how much they will get to broadcast their election campaign messages.

The Electoral Commission today announced 15 political parties would get more than $3.2 million between them for broadcasts in the lead-up to the November election.

The commission sets the funding and airtime each party receives for election broadcasts, including campaign opening and closing addresses, on state-owned broadcasters TVNZ and Radio New Zealand.

The Labour and National parties will get $1.15 million each, with 20 minutes for opening addresses and 16 minutes for closing addresses.

The next biggest allocation went to the Green Party, with $300,000 and a total of 15 minutes airtime.

The ACT and Maori parties received $160,000 and a total of nine minutes each, while New Zealand First and United Future received $100,000 and five and a half minutes each.

Nothing for Hone
The newly-formed Mana Party, which is yet to be formally registered, was not eligible for funding or airtime because it did apply before applications closed on March 17.

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said the party's placing in its own second-tier category was a formal recognition of its status as New Zealand's third-biggest party.

Maori Party shocked
But the Maori Party was less than impressed with its third-tier placing.

Party president Pem Bird said he was shocked by the announcement, which left the party with $90,000 and two minutes less than it received at the 2008 election.

The party's submission to the Electoral Commission argued for special consideration, given its capacity to speak to tangata whenua as a Treaty of Waitangi partner, its use of te reo Maori to spread its message, and its focus on constituencies that historically had lower voter turnouts.

"Quite frankly it is staggering that the only party which exclusively represents the Maori electorates is allocated less than 5 percent of the funding -- for a population that represents 17 percent of the New Zealand population," Mr Bird said.

"I can only put it down to an oversight -- or deliberate omission -- to devalue the role of the treaty and of te reo Maori as the official language of Aotearoa."

The Mana Party would not appeal its lack of funding, with a spokeswoman for party leader Hone Harawira saying the regulations were clear.

Mr Harawira had not applied for funding by the cut-off date because he was not considering setting up a party at the time, the spokeswoman said.

The airtime would have been handy, but Mr Harawira did not suffer from a lack of media attention, she said.

Entertainment for your tax dollar
Eight smaller parties -- Alliance, the Kiwi Party, Libertarianz, the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party, the New Zealand Sovereignty Party, Coalition of New Zealanders, the World Peace Party and the Pirate Party -- will get $20,000 and two minutes total each.

The Pirate Party - modelled on the European Party of the same name, which succeeded in getting one of its members elected to the EU parliament in the wake of four founders of the Pirate Bay file sharing service being convicted by a Swedish court - contested the Botany byelection won by National's Jami-Lee Ross. The party's candidate, Hussain Al-Saady, received 32 votes. Like its EU counterpart, the NZ Pirate Party campaigns against existing copyright laws.

A representative for the Pirate Party told NBR that after Botany, it embarked on a drive to sign 500 members - the number required to meet the Electoral Commission's general election threshold. Pirate Party membership costs $10, with a discounted $2 rate also available.

Parliament will appropriate $2.855 million, excluding GST, for the broadcasting allocations -- the same amount as the 2005 and 2008 elections.