The third parties

There are 21 third parties registered for this election, which means they plan to spend over (off memory) $12,000 advocating who people should vote for or against.

I’ve categorised them.

Unions -12

CTU, Nurses, Unite, NZEI, EPMU, First, PSA, Maritime, SFWU, NZUSA, DWU, PPTA

Business Lobby Groups – 0

Left Lobby Groups – 4

Living Wage, Pitt Street Church, Federated Mountain Clubs, Action Station, Jill Whitmore (G-Force)

Spend more money on us groups – 2

Financial Services Council, NZ Aged Care Assn

Right Lobby Groups – 3

Family First, Campaign 4 Change, The Opinion Partnership

So in total 16 left groups, 3 right groups, and a couple of industry groups. I’ve consistently said the big third party money in politics is always on the left.

It will be interesting to see how much they each spend. The unions could well spent over $500,000.