Don Brash MP National Party Leader

8 August 2006

Clark feigns confusion about parliamentary rules

Helen Clark is deliberately feigning confusion about the rules that bar the spending of parliamentary money on electioneering, says National Leader Don Brash.

"The fact is, there is no confusion. The rules are already clear. Those funds are not to be spent on electioneering material.

"If the $446,000 pledge card and brochure are not electioneering material, then I don't know what is.

"Helen Clark says the rules are being changed after the final whistle.

"At last it looks like the country has found a referee who will stand up to her and say the rules are the rules - the Auditor-General.

"The fact is that Labour deliberately overspent its limit, and police found there was a prima facie case that they had broken the limit established by the Electoral Act.

"It is now clear from the office of the Auditor-General that Labour also broke the rules governing the use of the Leader's Office funds.

"Labour needs to stop the whitewash, and pay back the money it improperly spent."

ENDS

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