Mallard bans video nasties

National accuses Speaker of censorship after Labour complains of MP attack ad

Parliamentary Speaker Trevor Mallard has ordered all political parties to take down online attack videos featuring MPs in the House. His ruling follows National using a video of Labour MP Deborah Russell in the House last week in an ad the party ran on social media.

Mallard ordered all such videos be removed by this afternoon.

National has called it “censorship at the extreme” and a “chilling move designed to stop freedom of expression”.

Mallard told the House he received a letter from Labour MP Kieran McAnulty complaining about videos using official recordings from the House for political advertising without the authority of members featured. The letter claimed the videos showed “a false and misleading account of proceedings”.

“Mr McAnulty’s letter has highlighted the existence of a range of videos posted by different parties that use footage of members for political advertising.

“I would be very surprised if those members had given permission, as the rules currently require.”

Last week National posted a video featuring Russell that showed her making a speech about wellbeing, but trailing off-topic and on to Greek philosophy.

Text running with the ad read: “Still not sure what Labour’s Wellbeing Budget means?”

“While there has been some discussion about what constitutes a political advertisement, it is clear to me that videos that support one party or to aim to reduce support for another party are the sorts of items covered by [Parliament’s rules],” Mallard said.

“That view is further reinforced by the description of the video as an attack ad in the material [National Leader Simon] Bridges referred me to.”

He later clarified the ruling only applied to videos posted this year.

According to Parliament’s rules, footage from the House by Parliament TV is not allowed to be used for political advertising or election campaigning, except with the permission of all members shown.

It also states reports that use extracts of coverage of proceedings and purport to be summaries must be fair and accurate.

If an MP uses footage from the House in ads without the permission of the MP it features, they will face contempt, a serious offence in Parliament.

Mallard asked Bridges and his office to “refrain from editing official video footage of MPs and posting it”.

Bridges called the decision an “attempt at stopping the Opposition from highlighting what goes on in Parliament . . . a chilling move designed to stop freedom of expression”.

“Sound bites have been used this way for decades in all forms of media and by all New Zealand political parties,” he said. “National believes it is important for New Zealanders to see how their elected representatives perform in Parliament.

“The video did not attack or criticise the Labour Party or the Government. It accurately reflects Dr Russell’s speech to Parliament about the meaning of wellbeing,” he said.

“When National was in Government, Labour also used footage from Parliament. Often heavily edited. We didn’t complain as we stood by our record and we encourage political debate.”

National deputy leader Paula Bennett said Mallard’s ruling was “censorship at the extreme” and said the ruling would affect hundreds of Labour, Greens and National advertisements.