25 Aug 2014

Conservative complaint to be heard in Wellington

2:43 pm on 25 August 2014

A legal dispute between Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and the Electoral Commission over the allocation of funding and broadcast times will be heard in Wellington next week.

Mr Craig is taking action against the Electoral Commission, alleging that it acted unlawfully in how it allocated party broadcast times.

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Photo: RNZ

Under the Broadcasting Act political parties are allocated broadcasting time and money for election programmes.

The Conservative Party has been given $61,499 and 90 seconds for its opening and closing addresses.

The opening addresses were broadcast by TVNZ on Saturday night and the closing addresses will be shown on the night before the election.

Lawyer Mai Chen acting for the Conservative Party is challenging the amount of time and money.

She is also challenging the order in which the parties' programmes are shown.

Justice Asher has transferred the matter to Wellington because that is where the Electoral Commission is based. He has set the hearing for Thursday 4 September.