Electoral Commission rules Campaign for Change counts as Labour candidate donations

As you can see below the Electoral Commission has investigated the Campaign for Change and made the following determinations:

  1. All funds spent by the Campaign for Change are Labour candidate donations and must be declared in returns after the election
  2. McCarten personally paid for the costs
  3. $65,095 was spent up until Labour formally took over
  4. The Campaign for Change was not a neutral enrolment exercise

I’m surprised that Matt McCarten was in a position to pay the $65,000 himself, especially as he claimed there was an external donor. But I guess the Electoral Commission has to take him for his word.

Chief Electoral Officer Letter to David Farrar 29 August by David Farrar on Scribd