Justice Minister Annette King has revealed she was present at a Labour Party congress workshop where delegates discussed using government department brochures as campaign material.
But she had been talking to Cabinet colleague Phil Goff at the time and had been unaware of the suggestion that came from a delegate until she heard about it later, her spokesman told NZPA last night.
Ms King, who is responsible for the Electoral Finance Act, admitted she was present at the session after National's deputy leader suggested it in Parliament yesterday.
She initially refused to comment to NZPA.
The suggestion of using government brochures, to get around the ACT's tight restrictions on the distribution of party materials, has embarrassed the Government.
Legal experts have suggested using departmental materials as a campaign tool may breach the Electoral Finance Act and the affair has provided National with ammunition to back up its claim that Labour intends using the Act to silence other parties while it uses government departments to promote its own messages.
Prime Minister Helen Clark this week admonished Labour's president Mike Williams who reportedly endorsed the idea at the workshop.
She also said she would advise MPs and party members not to use departmental brochures for campaigning.
Miss Clark last night said that if she had been at the Saturday morning strategy session herself and heard the idea raised, she was certain she would have said "hang on a minute".
"But honestly I think that at 8.30 in the morning people have their minds on other things. There was a lot of chatter going on and things went over their heads."
Ms King's spokesman said the workshop suggestion was casual and was not part of any official decisions made at the session.
But National Party leader John Key today questioned whether the idea was accidental or deliberate.
"They've been caught before now. They were caught last week with their We're Making a Difference pamphlet," he said on TVNZ's Breakfast show.
"One of the questions is - is it a mistake or is it deliberate? It strikes me with the Electoral Finance Act, Labour passed that to try and screw the scrum in the favour of Labour and make it a lot more difficult for anyone else to compete."
Meanwhile, MPs have been left wondering if press statements they issue will also fall foul of the Electoral Finance Act after an ACT MP Heather Roy was advised by electoral officials that her weekly email newsletter was election material.
The newsletter now has to carry an authorisation from the party's financial agent and the production and distribution costs will probably have to be counted as an election expense.
The advice has prompted a fresh round of confusion among parties over the complex new law.
The newsletter, one of several sent out continuously for several years by MPs, differs little from the many press releases parties put out every day - suggesting they might also be covered by the new electoral law.
Mrs Roy said ACT had submitted several items to Chief Electoral Officer Robert Peden to see whether they constituted electioneering and was told the newsletter was.
Trying to put a cost on the newsletter, which was produced in house, but distributed by a professional media company was difficult, she said.
Ms King yesterday refused to comment on the case.
