Liz Dotcom's $44,000 donation and the latest party returns
Liz Dotcom has donated $44,000 to the NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party.
The donation is one of a batch of new party returns, the formal records of large gifts, logged in RNZ's political donations tracker, published on 7 October 2026. It puts Dotcom, a first-time candidate, among the larger individual donors named in this cycle.
Dotcom is standing for the Outdoors & Freedom Party in Kaipara ki Mahurangi. She announced her candidacy in September. She is married to tech entrepreneur Kim Dotcom.
Kaipara ki Mahurangi was held by National's Chris Penk, who is leaving politics after the election. That leaves an open race in the electorate, which covers north Auckland and southern Northland.
Kim Dotcom formed the Internet Party in 2014 and donated $3.5 million to it. He is fighting extradition to the United States on charges of racketeering, copyright infringement, money laundering and fraud.
Other new returns cover most of the parties in Parliament. ACT received $25,000 from Jeff Douglas, chief executive of Douglas Pharmaceuticals. The Greens received $62,000 from tech entrepreneur Robert Morgan.
Labour received $20,405 from Len Cook, who was Government Statistician from 1992 to 2000. National received $100,796 split between three companies: Little Umbrella, Ake Mana Energy and Red Stag Timber.
NZ First disclosed three donations. Jenny Marcroft gave $30,000. Marcroft is standing in Kaipara ki Mahurangi and is 10th on the party's list, the ranking that decides who enters Parliament on the party vote. Robert Cookson gave $28,999.98. Cookson is standing in Waikato and is 23rd on the list. Foresta (NZ) Ltd gave $21,000.
That means Kaipara ki Mahurangi now has two disclosed candidate-donors standing against each other. Marcroft is seeking the seat for NZ First from inside the top 10. Dotcom is carrying the Outdoors & Freedom nomination and has provided the party's largest recent payment.
Declared donations over $20,000 to all parties totalled $7,491,942 as of 8 October.
The broader context here is the shift in who funds the smaller parties. In the 2023 election, unions gave $335,000 to Labour, according to party accounts. National received no donations from unions but received more than $1 million from businesses. The current disclosures point to a different pattern for the minors, with candidates and list hopefuls giving money directly to their own parties.
In practical terms, the questions are about organisation. Self-funding can keep a small party on the field. It does not buy local branches and volunteers on its own. List position matters more for NZ First hopefuls than for Outdoors & Freedom, and Marcroft at 10th sits in a very different position from Cookson at 23rd or from a single-electorate bid in an open National seat.
