Yes, NZ First are seriously trying to claim that their gross and persistent breaches of the Electoral Act were just "human error". Like DPF, I think this simply fails the Tui test. In order to be believable, the staff who prepare their annual returns would have to be completely and utterly ignorant of the law, while the lawyers, accountants, party officials and MPs who presumably oversee them had to have failed completely to do their job. Electoral law is not rocket science, and such widespread and systematic incompetence is so far beyond the bounds of credulity that I doubt even Doug Woolerton would believe it, particularly when it seems to form part of a wider pattern of non-disclosure. But I guess claiming not to have a brain between them (and not being able to hire one either) seems better than admitting that they systematically and intentionally lied to the public about where the money was coming from...
