This page is about a bill. That means that it's not the law yet, but some people want it to be the law. It could change quickly, and some of the information is just a draft.

Referendums Framework Bill

Referendum advertising - Preliminary provisions

40: Meaning of referendum expenses

You could also call this:

"What 'referendum expenses' means: costs of making and showing referendum ads"

Illustration for Referendums Framework Bill

When you are talking about a referendum, you might hear the term "referendum expenses". This term refers to the costs of creating and showing advertisements for a referendum. You will incur referendum expenses when you pay for things like designing, printing, and sending out advertisements. You will also incur expenses if you use materials that have a reasonable market value, even if someone gives them to you for free.

If you do a survey or poll to find out what people think, the cost of doing that is not included in referendum expenses. You also do not have to count the cost of a framework that holds up a sign with a referendum advertisement, unless someone is paid to provide that framework. If someone helps you with a referendum advertisement for free, their labour is not included in referendum expenses. You do not have to pay for replacing an advertisement if it gets destroyed by someone else or by an accident.

If you use a vehicle to show a referendum advertisement, the cost of running that vehicle is not included in referendum expenses, unless you have a contract to pay someone to use their vehicle. A vehicle is what the Land Transport Act 1998 says it is.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

This page was last updated on 25 August 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1028701.

Topics:

Government and voting > Elections

39: Meaning of referendum advertisement, or

"What is a referendum advertisement: an ad that tries to influence how you vote"

41: Meaning of publish, or

"What 'publish' means: making information available to the public in any way"

Part 3Referendum advertising
Preliminary provisions

40Meaning of referendum expenses

In this Part, referendum expenses—
includes—
1. the costs incurred in the preparation, design, composition, printing, postage, and publication of a referendum advertisement; and
2. the reasonable market value of any material used for or applied towards the advertisement, including any such material that is provided free of charge or below reasonable market value; but
excludes the cost of—
1. the conduct of any survey or public opinion poll; and
2. any framework (other than a commercial framework) that supports a hoarding on which the advertisement is displayed; and
3. the labour of any person that is provided free of charge by that person; and
4. the replacement of any material used in respect of a referendum advertisement if that advertisement has been destroyed or rendered unusable by—
  1. 1 or more persons (other than the promoter or a person acting on the promoter’s behalf):
  2. the occurrence of an event beyond the control of the promoter or a person acting the promoter’s behalf.

To avoid doubt, referendum expenses does not include the costs (including running costs) of any vehicle used to display a referendum advertisement if the use of the vehicle for that purpose is not the subject of a contract, arrangement, or understanding for the payment of money or money’s worth.
In this section, vehicle has the meaning given to it by section 2(1) of the Land Transport Act 1998.