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The Annual Report of the Electoral Commission, Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri, for the year ended 20 June 2005 was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, 8 November 2005.

Following are the achievement highlights presented at the beginning of the report, with the full report available under Downloads to the right.

Achievement highlights

Organisational

• Business process reviews and improvements together with revenue generation have resulted in a forecast 18% saving in net operational expenditure with budget thus released for education and information activities.

• The Elections New Zealand website, re-launched in April 2005 following a commission funded and driven project, has established itself as a major and cost-effective education and information conduit with the site judged 3rd best government sector website in an audit conducted for the State Services Commission.

Registered political parties and logos

• The pre-election year saw increased activity with five new parties registered and two registrations cancelled, with 21 parties on the register at year-end.  Five new and four substitute logos were registered.

Promotion of public awareness of electoral matters

• Tracking research showed that, three months before the election, most of us think MMP is easy to understand but less than a fifth of us can correctly recall both the importance of the party vote and the two elements of threshold.  The level of understanding of the role of the party vote was at its typical low ebb for the time in the electoral cycle.

• The commission organised a significant hui in partnership with a Māori academic research group to identify existing research and help build a Māori electoral research agenda to inform policy and programme development to address low levels of Māori electoral participation.

• Major achievements to encourage electoral efficacy and participation in young people included close involvement in the ongoing review of the school social sciences curriculum essence statement, development of the Hands Up! teacher resource, and the announcement of a major awards programme for teaching using the election context.

• Journalism education and professional development was a focus, with more than 150 working journalists and 220 trainee journalists reached through seminars and lectures by commission staff, along with sponsorship of a journalists' guide to covering elections.

• The Women's Electoral Lobby New Zealand was awarded on Suffrage Day, 19 September 2004, a special Wallace Award for outstanding contribution to public understanding of electoral matters.  Two other Wallace Awards were presented during the year for academic work.

Allocation of election broadcasting time and funds

• The allocation process for time and funds for election broadcast advertising took place between January and April 2005, with an increased amount made available for allocation totalling $3,212,000 (inc GST).  It was the first increase since the 1990 general election, and restored the total advertising buying power to about 1990 levels.

Provision of advice on electoral matters

• The commission welcomed legislative tidying of some technical aspects of the broadcasting regime.

• The commission noted that the year passed without a government announcement concerning a select committee-recommended fundamental review of electoral law and administration.  The commission agrees that such a review is needed and it recommends that one is established under parliamentary oversight.

• A select committee inquiry into the 2004 local and district health board elections re-endorsed an earlier select committee recommendation that the commission be tasked and funded for promoting understanding and participation in both local and general elections.  Several submitters, including the commission, suggested that the commission should be given this role.

Publicity in connection with the next general election

• The commission was grateful to secure additional funding of $548,444 (ex GST) so that it could plan and deliver an election information campaign of similar budget in real terms to that delivered in 2002.

• At year-end the commission had completed its planning and sufficient preparation of materials to ensure it could deliver a public information campaign in the lead-up to a 2005 general election held any time after 1 July.