Dwindling audience numbers has led to the scrapping of political parties' free general election broadcasts. Justice Minister Amy Adams said today the Government will remove a requirement for parties' opening and closing addresses during the election period. During opening addresses in the 2014 general election period, TVNZ's audience numbers fell by a quarter. "I hope that by giving parties more flexibility in how they communicate their messages, more voters will engage in the electoral process," she said. Rules about parties' election spending, which is restricted according to the size of each party, will not change as a result of the legislation.

Source: New Zealand Herald October 19, 2016 22:18 UTC