Political funding in New Zealand

Individuals and groups not running had spending limits of $13,200 although it was possible to increase the amount to $330,000 by registering with the Electoral Commission.

[4] There is no upper limit to political contributions made to parties and/ or candidates which are not anonymous, either for election campaign or during specific time periods.

[7] For instance, in August 2019, the National Party received a $150,000 donation from Chinese billionaire Lang Lin who owned a business in New Zealand.

[9] Parties are required to file annual financial returns ('donation statements') that disclose the total amount of donations received.

[11] Candidates are required to fill returns on election years that are very similar but have a reduced threshold of $1,500 for full disclosure of non-anonymous donations.

[13] In early December 2019, the New Zealand Government passed legislation under urgency to limit foreign donations over NZ$50.

[18] The amendment, which was passed into law as the Electoral Amendment Act 2022 and took effect from 2023 also reduced the anonymous donation disclosure threshold from NZ$15,000 to NZ$5,000 and requires parties to report all donations received, including those under $1,500 that were previously exempt from reporting requirements.

The average size of these large donations was significantly higher for millionaires ($1,381,000) and trusts ($154,000) compared to private individuals ($50,000) and other categories.

National derived most of their large donations in this period from trusts (40%), businesses (26%), private individuals (24%) and anonymous donors (10%) while Labour received large donations from anonymous donors (30%), private individuals (26%), businesses (17%), trade unions (12%) and MPs (10%).

[21] In 18 January 2023, The New Zealand Herald reported that the National Party had raised NZ$2.3 million to fund their 2023 election campaign from 24 big donors in 2022.

In addition, the Green Party raised NZ$122,000 through tithes from co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson.

Private political funding of major NZ parties
A logarithmic plot of private declared donations to parties that have been in the New Zealand parliament from 2011 to 2020. This excludes some parties such as the Internet Party and the New Conservative Party that received considerable sums on some years, however failed to enter parliament. [ b ]
Electoral Commission Broadcasting allocations between 2008 and 2020.
Electoral Commission broadcasting allocations for the major political parties of New Zealand.