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Labour MP Rick Barker said he never intended to deceive when he told pollsters they could give false names and say they worked for a company which no longer existed.
The poll Mr Barker ran used volunteers aligned with Labour to ask questions about what issues were important to voters.
He was unaware then that Data Research was no longer operating.
It emerged that pollsters were using fake names and saying they were calling from Data Research
Labour leader Phil Goff said earlier today people should not have used false names.
Mr Barker told reporters this afternoon Data Research had been used by Labour pollsters in the past and he thought that would have been okay had the company not been deregistered.
“Given the controversy around it”, the polling was unlikely to continue in the same form and in the future the party was likely to continue with its traditional practice of using professional polling companies, he said.”
While it was a mistake to say people could use false names, he could not see a problem with using a company name, because if pollsters said they were from Labour people may not answer honestly.
However, he said: “You don’t actually have to have a registered company to undertake polling.
“I haven’t done anything intentionally wrong.
National people did not say they were party supporters when they did their own polling, Mr Barker said.
“The intention was never to deceive.”
Asked if the party would continue to use Data Research’s name, Mr Barker initially said the party needed to sort out registration but under further questioning said the name would be shelved. . .”
None of the volunteers who did the polling was paid and worked in their free time. the intention was to get data on how people felt about issues in various areas which is a very legitimate thing to do in politics. . Phone calls were paid with taxpayer funds out of the party leader’s budget.
“Labour are usually lecturing other people about being up front, so I think in this case they need to explain what they are doing,” he said.
Acting Prime Minister Bill English earlier today said party polling needed to be done openly.
Speaking from Asia at the weekend, Prime Minister John Key said it was wrong to use false names and taxpayer money for political polling.
Mr English said the National Party had transparency around who paid for polls and who conducted them.
