By Duncan Garner
Members of Parliament are going to lose the ability to set their own perks and expenses.
A Law Commission report says the current system isn't working and isn't transparent, and in the future the Remuneration Authority should set MPs' allowances, as well as their salaries.
Prime Minister John Key thinks it's the right move.
2010 has been the year of the unadulterated perk. Shane Jones purchased porn, Chris Carter bought flowers and a massage, Phil Heatley took his little family on holiday and Pansy Wong did business in China that broke the rules.
A year earlier, Rodney Hide took his girlfriend on an overseas holiday.
All those perks are set and controlled by Parliament's speaker, Lockwood Smith. Now a report by outgoing Law Commission head Sir Geoffrey Palmer says that should change.
"I think it's a move in the right direction and the right step," says Mr Key.
"I agree with it 100 percent," says Mr Hide.
"It's about time we had a independent body doing this so MPs didn't have their sticky fingers in the pot and paying themselves like they are," says Greens co-leader Metiria Turei.
"I think the Law Commission is absolutely right," says Labour leader Phil Goff.
The report says attempts at transparency over the past 10 years have been fruitless.
It recommends the Remuneration Authority control and determine all perks, like allowances and entitlements - not the Speaker.
It wants the Remuneration Authority, which right now sets MPs' pay, to be beefed up with at least one former MP on it.
It says all Parliamentary spending should be opened up to the Official Information Act for all to see.
"It takes away the suspicion of MPs feathering their own nest," says Mr Goff.
"I think we should implement the whole thing," says Mr Hide.
Mr Key says the Government will do just that by passing new laws next year.
"In my time as Prime Minister I have tired to push for greater transparency, and we are happy to have an independent body overseeing expenses and entitlements for MPs."
MPs currently set the rules, administer the perks and decide what information to release to the public - that will stop.
"I think if you have MPs deciding the allowances it lacks integrity and a proper process," says Mr Hide.
This report signals game over for MPs - the walls of their cosy and unaccountable club have been smashed down, and in many ways these changes will save some MPs from themselves.
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