Electoral funding

Today's big topic seems to be the Electoral Commission's allocation of broadcasting funding to the parties. The general consensus is that NZ First got ripped off, and I agree. At half the size of National, they should be a tier above the other minor parties when it comes to funding but instead they're left to languish on the same funding as the Greens. I guess this was the National rep on the commission's quid pro quo for his party getting less money than Labour - stomping on the fingers of its closest competitor.

But there is an unfortunate contradiction at the heart of our electoral broadcasting laws: we think money can buy elections, so we ban parties from using their own money for TV advertising and instead fund it out of a common pool. But then we rig the funding levels so as to favour those parties currently established - effectively perpetuating the status quo. And it doesn't help that the allocations are in part set by representatives of the two major parties, who share an interest in preventing anybody else from challenging them. It's a deeply unsatisfactory system, and one which cries out for reform - though not in the direction desired by the free marketeers. The outright corruption seen in the US (driven by politicians' and parties' need to raise ever larger war-chests to meet the costs of the advertising arms race) is not something I want to see here. Instead, it would be better to retain state funding, but divide the funds and time equally between parties so as to create a level playing field. Or at worst, use a two-tier system, differentiating between those who make it into Parliament or have a certain number of audited members or poll close to the threshold, and those who don't. It should be the voters who decide how well each party does - not the handicappers at the Electoral Commission...