Speaker Margaret Wilson:

ALSO:

Controller and Auditor-General - Report Summary: Advertising expenditure in 2005 Election

Controller and Auditor-General - Report (PDF), Appendix: Advice of the Solicitor-General (PDF, 1.1 MB)

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Labour - Labour to refund funding

Labour - The big whip around

Labour - What did Don spend parliamentary money on?

NZ Govt - Validating legislation on election spending issue

NZ Govt - National left owing for election rort

National - Clark 'guilty as charged' on election spending

United Future - Dunne concerning election spending reports

NZ First - NZ First Will Pay When Convinced

Maori Party - Maori Party asks why another week is necessary?

Greens - Clear rules for spending needed

Greens - Greens committed to paying

Progressive Party - Anderton welcomes commitment to pay

Parents for Children - Dunne's Double Standard

Public Service Association - Politicians must respect A-G's independence

Libertarianz Party - Libertarianz Pledge Card Lawsuit
Scoop Audio: - Peters Responds To The A-G's Report

Auditor General's Report: Cullen Talks Retrospective Legislation On Agenda - Finance Minister Michael Cullen says legislation to retrospectively validate election campaign spending found illegal by the auditor general will be a confidence measure. Speaking on TV One’s Agenda programme, Dr Cullen said he had a report from Treasury which said the Government had to pass validating legislation because Treasury's clear advice was that refunding the money by itself would have no impact on the original conclusion of unlawfulness by the Auditor General. See... Agenda Highlights: Michael Cullen & Rodney Hide
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Auditor-General: Validation Bill Under Urgency Today - Nats To Oppose - National Party Leader Don Brash says the National Party will oppose the bill being introduced to validate expenditure found by the Auditor-General to be unlawful. "This is nothing more than a cynical exercise in self interest. National will hold Labour and other parties to account as they seek to pass this bill under urgency. "It is very clear that at least some of the parties in Parliament have no intention of paying back what they owe and today those parties intend to change the law to remove their obligation to do so. See... Clark's clean slate bill 'cynical self interest'
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Scoop Satire: Auditor-General Thought Processes Remix - In his report on advertising expenditure in the 2005 election funded by Parliamentary Services, the Auditor-General helpfully supplies a decision-making flowchart used when determining the legality of particular pieces of advertising. While this is a very fine thing, whether such a simple process can be so robust is a matter of debate... I therefore propose the following, which, while giving much the same results, more fully reflects generally-held beliefs about the Auditor-General's reasoning. See... Hood: Auditors-General Decisions-Making Proposal

Debate On Validating Legislation:

Auditor-General's Report: NZ First Only Hold-Out On Payback Decision - The Speaker, Hon Margaret Wilson, reported to the House today that all parliamentary parties, except New Zealand First, had indicated they would reimburse the expenditure found to be unlawful by the Auditor-General. New Zealand First had indicated it would need more time to receive legal advice on the Auditor-General’s report... See... Reimbursement of unlawful expenditure ALSO:

Political Columnists Respond:

Politics: Dissemination Of Parliamentary Bull Threatened - Suffering from the new fun free environment that Auditor General Kevin Brady has ushered in will be the good citizens of National MP Lockwood Smith's Rodney electorate. Photos of Dr Smith surrounded by his fellow Orewa Surf lifesavers were splashed across NZ's newspapers earlier this week after Finance Minister Michael Cullen claimed a Christmas calendar issued by Dr Smith broke the rules under Mr Brady's new guidelines. Dr Smith's calendar showed more than just the good lads of the Orewa surf life saving club though. See... Nat Calendar And Green Cards Collateral Damage

Politics: Don Brash's Chair Arranger Embroiled In AG Fall-Out - Don Brash's credibility and judgement are yet again in doubt after his admission today that he used his Parliamentary Leader's Budget to pay for electioneering, Labour Strategist Pete Hodgson said. Dr Brash's today admitted on Radio Live that he did in fact pay campaign operative Bryan Sinclair with taxpayers' money. See... Brash's predictable fall from moral high ground

KiwiFM Audio: Wammo And List On Taxpayer-Funded Goodies

Pledge Card: Copeland Angered UF's 70 Grand Illegality Exposed, Blames Labour Overspend - United Future MP Gordon Copeland is suggesting the recent prolonged row over use of Parliamentary funds for electioneering may never have happened, if the police had decided to prosecute the Labour Party over its pledge card spending. See... Was the election spending furore necessary?