Nats raised $10.3m in months before election

The National Party raised a staggering $10.3 million in donations during the 2023 election year, new figures reveal, more than doubling the $4.7m raised by Labour, and further widening the funding gap between the political left and right.

The full electoral returns for 2023, published yesterday, show the full scale of political donations.

Political parties have to report donations above $20,000 to the Electoral Commission within 10 days, so the new figures completed the picture for the election year.

It showed National raised $10.3m, ACT raised $4.2m, the Green Party raised $3.3m, and Labour raised $4.7m.

Together, National and ACT raised $14.64m, while Labour and the Greens raised more than $8.08m. NZ First raised $1.87m.

Unsurprisingly, National’s donors included a who’s who of richlisters, including Richard Balcombe-Langridge and Brett Russell, who donated $14,740 and $11,620 respectively; Peter Huljich ($10,000), and Naomi Ballanytne ($6840).

Shipping magnate Mark Ching gave $13,500, while businessman Garth Barfoot gave $20,000, BBQ Factory founder Roger Richwhite gave $10,000, prominent Auckland restaurateur and one-time political hopeful Leo Molloy gave $18,950, businessman and philanthropist Walter Yovich gave $20,000, and tech entrepreneur Rod Drury gave $13,500.

Former Fisher & Paykel chief executive John Bongard gave $18,410, while former sportsman Greg Loveridge gave $15,800. The late philanthropist Richard Izard, who died this year, donated $11,829, and the estate of former politician and sportsman Harold Russell gave $8600.

Well-known businesses were also among the donors. AJR Finance gave $20,000. The company also donated $55,000 to NZ First. Bayley Corporation Ltd, the parent company of Bayleys, gave $7200. Fletcher Building gave $7200. Forsyth Barr gave $7200. Gibbston Valley Wines donated $13,082.

Some unexpected donations include $6000 to NZ First from Clayton Cosgrove’s consultancy firm. Cosgrove is a former Labour Party minister

The Green Party donations list includes many environmentalists, as well as NBR richlister Murray Holdaway.

Political parties are increasingly reliant on donations, mainly as a result of declining party membership.

Labour suffered a staggering election loss in October, losing stronghold seats to National and a significant chunk of the party vote. The Green Party had a solid result, pulling 11.6% of of the party vote while its Wellington Central candidate Tamatha Paul won the high-profile Wellington Central seat, beating Labour’s Ibrahim Omer.

Labour’s fundraising strategy for the 2023 election was to ask for small, oneoff donations, to support items such as hoardings.

It speaks to the declining rate of party membership – an issue across political parties – which is also part of the broader decline in civic participation in modern life. As a result, parties are not banking as much in membership fees, and are more reliant on donations.