What, I hear you say? How can a government create more work for the public relations industry than it has already done with its multi million dollar “education” campaigns and it’s employment of hundreds of spin doctors to promote government policies? Quite simple really – introduce a law that stops anyone wanting to criticize the government or a government policy from promoting or advertising that policy except in the editorial content of newspapers or broadcast media. I am amazed that no mainstream media seem to have cottoned on to the implications of the Electoral Finance Bill, recently introduced into Parliament in the face of severe opposition from – of course – the Opposition – and sent to the Justice and Electoral Select Committee.

Essentially the bill means that if you intend to promote criticism of the government or its policies you either have to register with the Electoral Commission as a “third party” and you are not allowed to spend more than $60,000 a year engaging in that criticism, or your “financial agent” (whom you have to appoint to act for you and who has to be authorized by the Electoral Commission) has to make a statutory declaration to the media outlet you are using that you will not spend more than $5,000 promoting that criticism during the course of a year. Obviously intending to make sure they never get ambushed again by the Exclusive Brethren, the Labour Government has introduced a measure that will catch every protest group (e.g. nurses, concerned citizens) that promotes their views through paid media or pamphlets or even any commercial organization (e.g. a bank) that carries a critical article from its own economist on its own website. I kid you not! The best summary of the position is on David Farrar’s kiwiblog.co.nz where he likens the changes to something we would normally associate with the Chinese Government’s version of “freedom of speech”. Ironically, the preamble to the bill includes as one if its objectives (to) “…promote participation in parliamentary democracy…” Yeah, right.

Oh – and one more thing – if a third party receives an anonymous donation of more than $500, anything over the $500 has to go to the Electoral Commission to be returned to the Crown. How draconian can you get? All good news for PR companies who will be highly sought after for their ability to get column inches in the media – but bad news for those who want to carry out integrated campaigns for the purposes of advocacy or to oppose a legislative measure. And is the Government itself subject to the same restrictions? Don’t be silly – they can continue to spend millions of dollars of taxpayers money promoting “Government policies”- just like they did with Working for Families, 20 hours Free (?!!!?) Childcare and Kiwisaver. Submissions are only open till September 7, so all those businesses out there that have an interest in advertising revenue need to get busy.