Two referrals to Police
Two separate referrals have been made to Police on 15 August over election advertisements broadcast on radio stations outside the election period.
One referral involves a radio advertisement broadcast on three of NZME’s radio stations during March 2023.
The Electoral Commission has referred NZME and the person who organised the broadcasting of the radio advertisements to Police.
The other referral is for two radio advertisements broadcast on two Pacific Media Network radio stations from November 2022 to April 2023.
The Electoral Commission has referred the broadcaster, Pacific Media Network, and the person who organised the broadcasting of the radio advertisements to Police.
It is the Electoral Commission’s view the broadcast of the radio advertisements constitutes a breach of section 80I of the Broadcasting Act, as an election programme cannot be broadcast at any time on radio or television other than during the ‘election period’, which runs from 10 September to 13 October 2023 for the 2023 General Election.
In both cases, the Electoral Commission also considers the broadcast of the radio advertisements to be a breach of section 204F of the Electoral Act as they did not include a promoter statement.
In the case of the advertisements broadcast on the Pacific Media Network, the Electoral Commission also considers the broadcast of the radio advertisement to be a breach of section 204H of the Electoral Act as it did not have prior written authorisation from the relevant political party secretary.
As these matters are now with Police, the Electoral Commission will not be commenting further.