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Te Pāti Māori has referred the Act Party to the Electoral Commission claiming it has breached the Electoral Act by not declaring a gift of use of a private jet from multi-millionaire Sean Colgan as part of its donations. 

But Act Party secretary Danae Smith said Act is “comfortable with its compliance” and claims Te Pāti Māori has made wrong assumptions. 

Te Pāti Māori names the American businessman in a letter to the Electoral Commission saying: “It has come to our attention that businessman Sean Colgan has donated full use of his plane to the Act Party. Under the Electoral Act, Parties must report donations and loans over $20,000 within 10 working days. 

Former US Olympic rower Sean Colgan who now lives in Hawke's Bay donated the use of his private jet to Act for 3 months. Photo / Warren Buckland. 

“Parties must report when they get more than $20,000 from a single donor between 1 January of the election year and the day before election day. 

“It is unlikely and impractical that the full access and use of this plane over the Election campaigning period is less than $20,000, more so that this is an accumulated amount from 1st January 2023 inclusive of the cost of the plane whether used or not used because it is 100 per cent available, the cost of fuel, the cost of staff and the cost of access to the various airports.” 

On Saturday, Act leader David Seymour acknowledged the businessman’s contribution would likely have to be publicly declared as it would probably exceed $5000. He said it would be included in the party’s annual returns published around May. 

The plane reportedly cost about $2000 per day to run and Seymour said he had use of the plane for about four days of the campaign. 

Act Party secretary Danae Smith said the party had complied with the regulations. 

“Act is very comfortable with our compliance under the Electoral Act. 

“The letter [from Te Pāti Māori] in question is misinformed and based on incorrect assumptions and overestimated costs. Act is assured that we’ve met all our obligations.” 

Joseph Los’e joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa Māori Editor. Los’e was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News newspaper covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and prior to joining NZME worked for 12 years for Te Whānau o Waipareira.