From The Herald

This seems to have slipped in under the radar.

The Government has been advised that the Parliamentary Service may have made a momentous blunder in failing to get the Speaker's written authorisation for parliamentary party spending since 2000 and that virtually all of its party spending since then may have been unlawful. The Herald understands the blunder was identified in the past few weeks by officials working on election legislation but that it is being disputed by the Parliamentary Service, the body that administers Parliament. The matter is separate from the unlawful expenditure of just over $1 million on advertising last election, as identified by the Auditor-General, and could involve up to $100 million over the six years. But because the retrospective legislation rushed through Parliament last week covers the Parliamentary Service's spending back to 1989, all unlawful expenditure, including any newly identified breaches, has been validated.

..and they run our country!