“The ACT Party is calling on Green MP Chloe Swarbrick to reject taking part in a NZ On Air funded documentary,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.
“NZ On Air has agreed to $220,000 of taxpayers' money being spent on a documentary about the personal and political life of Chloe Swarbrick.
“There’s an important democratic principle at stake here. A Government agency like New Zealand on Air should be above politics. It should run a mile from funding what could be considered an advertisement under the Electoral Act, instead it’s running straight in with $220,000 of taxpayers’ money.
“Chloe Swarbrick needs to do the right thing and decline to be part of this.
“If she lacks the judgement to decline this, Swarbrick should declare it as an election advertisement.
“The law states that election advertising needs to be declared if it may be reasonably regarded as encouraging or persuading someone to vote for them.
“The fact they’re even considering using $220k of taxpayer funded money on a documentary on a sitting MP shows how far standards in New Zealand have fallen.
“New Zealand should be a country where something like this was unthinkable, and people would go out of their way to distance themselves from it.
“NZ On Air needs to explain how it thought this kind of spending was appropriate, the Greens need to explain whether it’s comfortable with spending taxpayers' money like this during a cost of living crisis and taxpayers need to be shown some respect.”