We talk a lot about money in politics in New Zealand, but we rarely actually examine it in detail. Today that changes. I’m pleased to announce the publication of Following the Money in 2025, the Democracy Project’s inaugural annual audit of political donations in New Zealand. This is the first report of its kind, and I hope it will become an indispensable resource for journalists, researchers, and citizens who want to understand who is funding our democracy.
The report is online here: Following The Money in 2025: The Democracy Project Annual Audit of Political Donations in New Zealand
This report is needed because New Zealand’s political donations have been under-researched, under-scrutinised, and under-analysed. This is remarkable given how central money is to modern politics. We’ve had sporadic media reports on individual donations, occasional scandals that flare up and fade, but no systematic, ongoing examination of who funds our political parties and what they might expect in return. That gap has allowed patterns of influence to develop in the shadows, visible only in fleeting glimpses when a particularly egregious case catches public attention.
What we’ve done
We hope that this report changes the landscape. Using the Democracy Project’s newly-created databases of information on politics, money, networks, and influence, we have researched every single donation disclosed to the Electoral Commission by New Zealand’s political parties for the 2024 calendar year (declared in 2025). Every donor over the $5,000 disclosure threshold has been examined. Their business interests have been documented. Their connections to government decisions have been traced. This is new for New Zealand politics, and it matters.
The report is extensive. It runs to over 130 pages with detailed appendices and data tables. It is not meant to be read cover to cover in one sitting. Rather, it is designed as a resource: a comprehensive reference work for understanding who funds what in New Zealand politics. The appendices should prove particularly useful for those wanting to dig deeper into specific donors, sectors, or patterns.
The Key numbers
The disclosures for the last year reveal a political financing system under significant strain. In total, New Zealand’s registered political parties declared $10.5 million in donations for the 2024 calendar year. This is a non-election year figure, but it represents approximately 40% of the 2023 election year total — a higher proportion than in previous off-election years.
The concentration of this money is stark. Just eleven donors (backing the Coalition Government parties) contributed over $1.18 million, representing more than 10% of all declared funds. Donors giving over $5,000 represented a tiny fraction of total donors but accounted for 34% of all money given.
The National Party was the dominant recipient, securing 46.5% of all donated funds: nearly $4.9 million. The centre-right coalition (National, Act, NZ First) raised $7.1 million compared to $3.3 million for the centre-left bloc (Labour, Greens, Te Pāti Māori). The right’s haul was more than double the left’s.
A Tale of two funding systems
Perhaps the most significant finding is that New Zealand politics is now funded by two entirely different models. On one side, the governing coalition is overwhelmingly financed by large donations from corporate entities and high-net-worth individuals, particularly from the property, construction, and extractive industries. All eleven of the year’s largest donations (over $50,000) went to National, Act, or NZ First.
In contrast, Labour and the Greens are funded by a broader base of smaller individual donations and a transparent system of MP tithing, where parliamentarians contribute a proportion of their salary back to their party. MP donations comprised 15.6% of Labour’s total and 18.9% of the Greens’ total. The opposition parties’ donor lists are dominated by individuals — former politicians, academics, philanthropists, and activists — rather than corporations.
This bifurcation has profound implications. It suggests that the two sides of our political spectrum are responsive to fundamentally different constituencies—not just at the ballot box, but in their day-to-day financing.
Troubling patterns
The report documents multiple case studies where large donations were followed by significant, tangible benefits for the donor. Companies and individuals linked to projects included in the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Act donated over $180,000 to National and NZ First in 2024. In several cases, responsible ministers did not recuse themselves from decision-making. A South Island trucking company donated $20,000 to NZ First and subsequently received an $8 million government loan from a fund overseen by a NZ First minister.
Two prominent businessmen were awarded knighthoods following their families and companies making over half a million dollars in donations to governing parties over the preceding two years. While there may be legitimate reasons for those honours, the timing and scale of contributions fuel public cynicism about “cash for honours”.
These patterns may be technically legal, but legality is not the same as integrity. The central argument of this report is that the proximity between large financial contributions from wealthy vested interests and favourable government outcomes is now too close and too frequent to be coincidental.
A Living document
I should note that given the opaque nature of political donations and influence in New Zealand, there may be inaccuracies in this report which have been honestly made, and which will be corrected if and when discovered. We have done a lot of fact-checking, but we acknowledge there will doubtless be some things we have got wrong. This is therefore a ‘living’ online document that will be updated as required.
As with our earlier research, the NZ Lobbying & Influence Register, this report will benefit from crowdsourced information. All feedback is welcome — including critical feedback. The more eyes on this data, the stronger and more accurate the picture becomes.
What comes next
This is the first of what will be an annual series. Every year, when the Electoral Commission publishes the previous year’s donation returns, the Democracy Project will analyse them comprehensively and publish our findings. Over time, this will build an invaluable longitudinal picture of how money flows through our political system.
In the coming weeks, further Democracy Briefings will bring out some of the more interesting and important research findings from this report in more digestible form. Today’s column is simply to announce its publication and point you to the full document. The report itself contains profiles of every major donor, analysis of sectoral patterns, examination of potential conflicts of interest, and proposals for reform.
This work matters because democracy requires transparency. When we don’t know who is funding our politicians, we cannot hold anyone accountable. When patterns of influence operate in the shadows, public trust erodes. New Zealand might well celebrate its international reputation for low corruption, but this means little if our own citizens conclude that access and influence are available for purchase.
Now, finally, someone is following the money. I hope you’ll join me in examining where it leads.
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The full report is available here: Following The Money in 2025: The Democracy Project Annual Audit of Political Donations in New Zealand
Dr Bryce Edwards
Director of the Democracy Project
New email address: bryce@democracyproject.org.nz
Thank you Bryce for undertaking such an important piece of work, even though you really shouldn't have to. Instead such figures should surely be collected and made available by a government agency such the electoral commission as part of democratic process.
More generally I am very much against large donations to political parties. Better if the taxpayer contributed to the operating costs of qualifying parties avoiding any hint of purchasing favours.
"The earldom's as good as bought and paid for!" Bradley Hardacre (Timothy West), in Brass (TV series, 1983-1990)..