Story: Elections and campaigns

The funding scandals during the 2005 election prompted the Labour-led government to pass the Electoral Finance Act 2007. Spending more than $12,000 criticising or supporting a political party or taking a position on a political matter was outlawed, as was spending more than $1,000 on criticising or supporting an individual member of Parliament. The act aroused as much controversy as the spending that caused it – a 2008 protest is shown here – and it was repealed in 2009.