By Sia Aston
Parliament’s speaker Lockwood Smith has released the second round of MPs’ recent expenses.
This new drive towards transparency, led by Mr Smith, appears to have driven at least one MP to put a stop to previous spend-thrift ways.
When the Speaker first lifted the lid on MPs spending last August, Labour MP Chris Carter stood out as one of Parliament’s biggest spenders – racking up $82,000 on travel and accommodation in six months.
But in the last three months his travel bill has halved.
Labour MP Darren Hughes says Phil Goff has been “really clear that we have to spend taxpayer money responsibly and make sure every decision made is the right one”.
Mr Carter’s spending as education minister last year also came under enormous scrutiny.
He took his partner, Peter Kaiser, on several overseas trips which, as revealed by 3 News, cost taxpayers $131,000.
Last week Mr Carter said Mr Kaiser no longer travels with him.
“He would hate people to think we are extravagant flippant gay boys who spend our time at luxury resorts travelling around,” Mr Carter says.
MPs have spent a total of nearly $4million this year on travel and accommodation.
The biggest spender was again Maori Party MP Hone Harawira – he spent $53,000 in the last three months, mostly on air travel.
He lives in the far north and makes no apologies for travelling to his Tai Tokerau electorate.
“Quite frankly, I don’t give a shit what New Zealanders think,” he says.
“I do care what the people of Tai Tokerau think and I know that they say to me all the time: ‘You turn up when you’re expected to turn up and we’ll back you, if we find out you’re wasting time we’re going to nail you’.”
This is the second round of figures publicly released by speaker Lockwood Smith, who says putting the heat on MPs and their spending is a good thing.
“It’s forced us to make sure the system is operating transparently, clearly and fairly,” he says.
3 News