Former minister Shane Jones has taken umbrage at the National party campaign hoardings in Kerikeri, accusing leader Christopher Luxon of “hypocrisy”.

The issue over political signs comes down to local bylaws. In Northland, like other regions including Auckland, the district council prohibits any election hoardings going up until there’s nine weeks to go before polling day. That means Northlanders shouldn’t be seeing any signs until August.

Jones told Stuff he had run into trouble with the Far North District Council, which told him to take down some signs advertising public meetings he planned to hold.

“I came off second best against them. The council said, ‘Look, if you put your signs up all we’ll do is get a contractor to take down your signs and send you the bill’. I thought oh f… I need every dollar I have for this campaign,” Jones said.

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Not long after, he saw signs adverting a visit by National leader Christopher Luxon.

And so Jones filmed a video for TikTok standing in front of that sign.

In the video, addressed to Luxon, Jones declares: “These signs are illegal!”

He goes on to accuse the National Party of being hypocritical, as the party focused on law and order during its conference in Wellington over the weekend.

“There’s no privileged law for the National Party. All political parties are prohibited from having these signs. If it’s good enough for New Zealand First and matua Shane Jones to take his signs down, you should do the same,” he continues.

“Don’t spout law and order in Wellington, but break the law in Northland. Hypocrisy! Get rid of this sign now.”

Luxon told Stuff his party would follow the bylaws of every council.

Told of Jones’ concerns, Luxon replied: “Oh my goodness… Is that serious? Where do I start? Look, I mean, we follow the bylaws.”

He said rules about election hoardings were complex, with differing interpretations and bylaws across the country.

“There’s lots of different vagaries … I’m sure our candidates are following all those rules.”

Far North District Council compliance manager Rochelle Deane​ confirmed the National Party sign fell outside its rules. She said the council had already asked Jones to take down an earlier sign, and would be asking National to do the same.

While many councils have bylaws restricting political hoardings ahead of an election, public law expert Professor Andrew Geddis​ said these rules were “a bit spotty”.

There was also a question of what type of sign met the criteria of being an election sign, he said, as most councils had specific rules for election signs and different rules for other advertisements.

“This is a perennial issue, and it all comes down to ‘what is an election sign?’ and ‘who is going to do anything about it anyway’,” he said.

Jones said he disagreed with the Far North District Council’s rules, but filmed the video about Luxon because he thought the rules should be applied equally – even if it was a bad rule.

“The local bylaws are hōhā, but the council has the authority,” he said.