Guest Post by Lucy Rogers on Kiwiblog
The Free Palestine party shows that political advertising for parliamentary parties should not be taxpayer funded
A new political party “Palestine Free from the River to the Sea” are explicitly saying that “Our purpose in creating a party is not to seek power, but to raise awareness. If we can reach 500 members quickly we will qualify for government funding to be used in campaign advertising. Every cent will go towards supporting the cause of Palestinian liberation.” See: https://www.psna.nz/news/newsletter-no-242
They go on to clarify that “You can join even if you belong to another party. We don’t ask for your loyalty to us. We don’t even ask that you vote for us.”
Finding 500 members who do not even intend to vote for you in order to qualify for taxpayer funding to promote a political message is an abuse of the system, and shines a spotlight on the fact that political parties should not be receiving taxpayer funding in the first place. If a political party cannot fundraise enough for its own political advertising, it shouldn’t be running for Parliament.
According to the Elections NZ website, $4,145,750 is currently being allocated to all parties for political advertising: https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2026/2026-broadcasting-allocation-decision That’s almost the entirety of the IPCA’s $5,000,000 annual budget. Scrap taxpayer funded political advertising which has now shown itself to be open to abuse by fringe parties like the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party or Vision New Zealand, and give it to the IPCA instead. I daresay this country will do without a few extra social media ads for parties which have no hope of getting into Parliament.
Finding 500 members who do not even intend to vote for you in order to qualify for taxpayer funding to promote a political message is an abuse of the system, and shines a spotlight on the fact that political parties should not be receiving taxpayer funding in the first place. If a political party cannot fundraise enough for its own political advertising, it shouldn’t be running for Parliament.
According to the Elections NZ website, $4,145,750 is currently being allocated to all parties for political advertising: https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2026/2026-broadcasting-allocation-decision That’s almost the entirety of the IPCA’s $5,000,000 annual budget. Scrap taxpayer funded political advertising which has now shown itself to be open to abuse by fringe parties like the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party or Vision New Zealand, and give it to the IPCA instead. I daresay this country will do without a few extra social media ads for parties which have no hope of getting into Parliament.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for joining the discussion. Breaking Views welcomes respectful contributions that enrich the debate. Please ensure your comments are not defamatory, derogatory or disruptive. We appreciate your cooperation.