Rich-lister cash rolling in to NZ First

Thursday, 28 September 2023

NZ First leader Winston Peters at a town hall event in Paraparaumu, Kāpiti Coast.

NZ First has declared more donations than in any previous election – with much of that coming in the last few weeks from rich-listers and property magnates.

The party’s leader Winston Peters has moved centre stage in the election campaign, frequently polling above the 5% threshold required to return NZ First to Parliament. Most public polls now suggest National and ACT will require NZ First’s support to form a government.

This year, the party has declared $881,141 in donations exceeding $20,000. That’s up about 60% on the total donations declared at both of the last two elections.

In the six months to June, NZ First pulled in $450,000 in large donations. It was polling around the 3% mark.

But, as support began to climb, more money rolled in. In August and September alone, wealthy donors coughed up $380,000.

NZ First’s campaign war chest was recently topped up by Rank Group, a private investment company belonging to Graham Hart, the country’s wealthiest man with a fortune estimated at $12 billion. Donations to both ACT and National followed two weeks later.

Billionaire Graeme Hart has donated to ACT, National and NZ First.

Sistema plastics founder and horse breeder Brendan Lindsay gave $50,000, as did rich-lister Peter Vela, a prominent racing industry figure. Sir Peter is also an ACT donor. And Lindsay also donated to ACT, and he and his wife Jo gave to National.

Property developer Mark Wyborn donated $100,000 to Peters’ party in September – adding to $100,000 gifted earlier in the year. His Tramco co-owner David Muller contributed $30,000 on the same day. They own some of the country’s most valuable land in Auckland’s Viaduct and Newmarket.

A $50,000 donation was returned to Zeljan Unkovich, understood to be the brother of Epsom candidate Tanya Unkovich. She refused to give an explanation when reached by telephone on Wednesday.

Peters declined to answer questions about the donations without a written commitment to reference his comments “in full and unchanged.”

The donations far outstrip those declared by NZ First in previous election years. In $514, 236 was registered, slightly less than in 2017 ($546, 253). That was considerably up on 2014’s tally ($94, 538) and the $48, 534 gifted in 2011.

In 2022, two people were acquitted of charges of obtaining about $750,000 by deception in channelling donations for NZ First from a range of high rollers, including from the racing and fishing industry.

The case centred on the New Zealand First Foundation, a separate organisation.

Electoral law requires a political party secretary to submit an annual return of donations to the Electoral Commission, but the court heard none of the donations in a four-year period were accounted for. The court said the funds were not party donations, as defined in the Electoral Act.

The Crown is appealing the acquittals. The duo have name suppression.

The case – and another involving donations to National and Labour – prompted an overhaul of the political fundraising regime.

But the courtroom dramas have not deterred the wealthy from financing political parties.

ACT have pulled in more than $1.5 million in big-money donors this year. National have raised close to $2.3m.

National’s biggest donation so far is $500,000 from building industry supplier Warren Lewis. In early August, the party’s Auckland Central candidate Mahesh Muralidhar gave just over $36,000.

Labour’s donations of more than $20,000 came mainly from unions. However, property developer Mark Todd donated $50,000 in early September. Most of the recent funds heading to the Greens have come from their own MPs.