Party returns of election expenses were released today, and browsing through them, I'm struck by the differing levels of transparency. For example, Labour's return [PDF] exhaustively lists every newspaper advertisement individually. So does the Greens [PDF]. National's [PDF], OTOH, includes only a single line:
Oh yes - very transparent.
This isn't good enough. The law requires - and the public deserves - full transparency on election expenses. It's the only way we can tell, for example, whether parties are circumventing expenses limits by being offered goods or services at below market rates (something which National in particular practicsed during the 2005 election). If National wants the public's trust, then it needs to come clean and give us full disclosure - not this dishonest attempt to pull the wool over our eyes.