Parliamentary Funding

It is interesting to look at how the funding for parliamentary parties has changed as a result of the election. There will be a slight decrease in funding despite one extra MP, as there are less parties. The funding formulas are:

1. Leadership – $100,000 plus $64,320 per MP who is not a Minister – for the Leader’s Office
2. Party – $22,000 per MP – for the Whips Office and Research Unit
3. MPs – $64,260 per Elect MP and $40,932 per List MP – for their individual use

The funding in category 1 and 2 is often lumped together by the parties, as they are both centrally controlled. Some of the smaller parties also put the individual MPs funding under central control. So how has the funding changed?

1. National – gone from $6,931,264 to $6,957,704. The Leader’s Office funding drops by $800,000 as 23 of the MPs are now Ministers, but the increased number of overall MPs by 10 compensates for that.
2. Labour – gone from $5,427,188 to $6,061,724. Their leadership funding increased by $1.2 million due to going into Opposition, but losing six MPs takes half of that away.
3. NZ First goes from $639,920 to zero 🙂
4. Greens go from $617,920 to $876,880. $863,512 to $1,245,268
   
5. Maori Party from $445,280 to $402,960 $702,320 to $724,260. They gain an MP but lose funding as Sharples and Turia are now Ministers.
6. ACT increases from $272,640 to $402,960 $377,832 to $630,948 .
7. United Future goes from $208,320 to $122,000 $313,512 to $186,260.
8. Progressive goes from $122,000 to $186,320 $186,260 to $250,580 as Anderton no longer a Minister
9. Field and Copeland both go from $186,320 $250,580 and $227,252 respectively to zero

The overall funding for all MPs goes from $16,206,164 to $16,056,744. This excludes certain entitlements that are not bulk funded such as travel, phone etc.