Clear evidence that Labour sees the public service as an extension of the Party machine:
The Labour Party is planning to use the resources of Government departments to campaign this year on its flagship policies, confidential strategy notes from the weekend Labour Congress in Wellington show.
In a private session on the election strategy, run by president Mike Williams, delegates were advised to distribute pamphlets on KiwiSaver produced by the Inland Revenue Department and on Working for Families produced by Work and Income.
They were also advised to tell voters when handing out the pamphlets that National voted against both measures.
Distributing Government department material explaining how new policies work is not unlawful.
But such publicity has never before been directly tied to political campaigns, and in the context of the new Electoral Finance Act, the move could be seen as inappropriate use of Government publicity.
