See a summary of how much parties spent on advertising for the 2020 General Election and download the full expense returns.
Parties could spend up to $1,199,000
A registered party contesting the party vote at the 2020 General Election could spend up to $1,199,000 (including GST) on election advertising, plus $28,200 (including GST) for each electorate the party contested by standing a candidate.
All registered parties must file a return, even if they didn’t have any expenses. These expense returns were due on Wednesday, 17 March 2021.
The COVID-19 Alert Level restrictions in place in Auckland impacted some parties and their ability to file their return by the deadline. Parties that notified us that they were affected for this reason were granted an extension to lodge their return by 24 March 2021.
Registered parties could get an allocation of money to spend on TV, radio and internet advertising. Parties could only broadcast their election advertisements on TV and radio between 13 September to 16 October.
See what we allocated to parties for broadcast advertising in 2020
Registered parties must also file a separate annual return of their donations and loans by 30 April.
Summary of party expenses
This table summarises each registered party’s election and allocation expenses.
| Party | Election expenses limit* | Total party expenses | Party allocation | Total party allocation expenses | |
| ACT New Zealand | $2,806,400.00 | $108,2166.64 | $150,755.00 | $150,740.17 | PDF, 1.8MB |
| Advance NZ | $2,721,800.00 | $364,769.96 | $64,609.00 | $55,243.85 | PDF, 1.3MB |
| Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party | $1,452,800.00 | $5,981.58 | $64,609.00 | $64,552.49 | PDF, 4.6MB |
| Green Party | $2,891,000.00 | $792,408.22 | $323,046.00 | $323,046.00 | PDF, 1.5MB |
| Heartland New Zealand | $1,227,200.00 | $18,219.42 | N/A | N/A | PDF, 1.5MB |
| Labour Party | $3,229,400.00 | $2,387,077.60 | $1,249,111.00 | $1,248,924.19 | PDF, 3.3MB |
| Māori Party | $1,396,400.00 | $241,986.42 | $150,755.00 | $149,119.78 | PDF, 1.6MB |
| National Party | $3,032,000.00 | $2,343,999.58 | $1,335,255.00 | $1,335,255.00 | PDF, 5.9MB |
| New Conservative | $3,229,400.00 | $309,722.43 | $64,609.00 | $64,609.00 | PDF, 1.8MB |
| New Zealand First Party | $1,960,400.00 | $621,646.90 | $323,046.00 | $298,788.14 | PDF, 2.8MB |
| NZ Outdoors Party | $1,932,200.00 | $3,430.73 | $53,840.00 | $53,839.98 | PDF, 6.2MB |
| ONE Party | $2,016,800.00 | $30,433.35 | $53,840.00 | $41,095.00 | PDF, 923KB |
| Social Credit | $1,734,800.00 | $16,799.03 | $53,840.00 | $53,840.00 | PDF, 3.6MB |
| Sustainable New Zealand Party | $1,481,000.00 | $55,465.79 | $53,840.00 | $53,673.06 | PDF, 5.4MB |
| TEA Party | $1,452,800.00 | $142,617.99 | N/A | N/A | PDF, 4MB |
| The Opportunities Party | $1,791,200.00 | $76,500.21 | $150,755.00 | $150,755.00 | PDF, 1.7MB |
| Vision New Zealand | $1,340,000.00 | $91,282.35 | $53,840.00 | $51,022.93 | PDF, 3.3MB |
*$1,199,000 + $28,200 per electorate candidate