Can the Government nightmare that is the Electoral Finance Act get any worse? Maybe it can.
Electoral officials will be asked to consider if press statements on the www.beehive.govt.nz website are election advertisements under the Electoral Finance Act, as National continues to highlight difficulties with the new law.
The status of press releases issued by ministers was raised yesterday during a select committee appearance by the heads of Ministerial Services, a unit of the Department of Internal Affairs that administers ministerial offices.
Brendan Boyle, Secretary of Internal Affairs, revealed that his department had sought legal advice on how to handle press statements put out by ministers' offices since the new law.
Our reading of the law is that the Government could have another problem here. We told you so.
This from Paula Oliver.
