Labour to close party donations ‘loophole’

The Government will close a ‘‘loophole’’ in electoral law exposed by the New Zealand First Foundation court case, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.

Ardern told RNZ yesterday morning that the court ruling in the case was an ‘‘unexpected interpretation’’ of electoral law that could be remedied in ‘‘quite a timely way’’.

Last week she cast doubt on whether the Government could legislate in response to the court ruling before the 2023 general election.

‘‘We have a piece of electoral law that covers issues of donation that is currently now in the process of going through the House. We believe there’s a way that we can, without creating any unintended consequences, address this issue through that process.’’

A High Court judge last month ruled that two men were not guilty of obtaining by deception, as alleged by the Serious Fraud Office, for their connection to a trust, the NZ First Foundation, which gathered donations that were not publicly recorded as party donations by the political party NZ First.

Justice Pheroze Jagose ruled the donations collected were not party donations as defined under the Electoral Act.

Legal experts and the Green Party have said the ruling defined a ‘‘loophole’’ in the political donations regime.

Ardern said the Government would be seeking cross-party support for its law change.

The Government last week introduced an electoral law bill into the House that would require the public disclosure of donors providing more than $5000 to political parties, among other changes. The threshold for anonymous donations is $15,000.

Amendments to the law in response to the NZ First Foundation case would occur through this piece of legislation.

The National Party indicated it would support an effort to close any loophole exposed by the High Court’s ruling. However, the party does not support the Government’s existing legislation that would adjust donation disclosure thresholds, claiming it ‘‘screws the scrum’’ in favour of the Labour Party.

The Green Party has called for the Government to close the claimed loophole.

NZ First leader Winston Peters, in response to Ardern’s comments yesterday, questioned the claims of a loophole in the law and attacked the media for its reporting of accusations made against the NZ First Foundation.