-
Related
One News has put the spotlight on allowances for Members of Parliament, asking them for full disclosure of if and what they claim.
Marian Hobbs and Phillida Bunkle were forced to resign their Cabinet portfolios after controversy over disputed allowance claims and the Auditor General reports later this week on whether they have done anything wrong.
The issue attracted a lot of finger pointing from the main parties, prompting One New to approach all the MPs in writing.
Of 118 MPs, excluding Hobbs and Bunkle, only 34 replied to the six questions:
* Do you get an out of town allowance?
* If you are a list MP what area do you represent?
* What is your residential address?
* Do you own a property in Wellington?
* Does your family live in Wellington?
* How much of the year do you spend in Wellington and how much in your electorate?
The 34 MPs who were willing to answer the questions included every Alliance member, every Green MP, every ACT MP, United Future's Peter Dunne and National MPs Anne Tolley and Wyatt Creech.
Winston Peters replied to some questions on behalf of his New Zealand First MPs, suggesting that if One News was looking for a rort it should look elsewhere.
The accommodation allowance is just one of many extras that MPs are entitled to on top of their base salary. They are to ensure that anyone from anywhere in the country can afford to be in Parliament.
The debate started with Bunkle and Hobbs who were questioned over claiming out of town allowances when they were both on the Wellington Central electoral roll.
Prime Minister Helen Clark said the pressure on them with the ongoing inquiries had become "intolerable" and the pair resigned.
The issue then widened when the Prime Minister accused National leader Jenny Shipley and deputy leader Bill English of possible inconsistencies as they effectively lived in the capital.
Alliance leader Jim Anderton said he respected MPs' rights to their privacy but the party had nothing to hide.
Greens co-leader Rod Donald maintained taxpayers "have a right to know where their money is being spent".
But for the two main parties privacy took precedence.
However, both party's whips wrote to say all was above board.
From the numbers who replied, One News learned that most MPs did claim a Wellington allowance unless they were based there or had ministerial homes.
Very few owned properties in the capital and most spent between three to four days in Wellington when the House was sitting.
What they get
With all the allowances and extras backbench MPs can more than double their basic salary of $85,000 a year. On top of that they receive $7,000 expenses - no questions asked.
In addition, backbenchers get $56 for every day they actually work, anywhere in the country, on parliamentary business. In the past financial year, MPs claimed between $6,500 and $8,000 each.
There is also an allowance for nights away from home on parliamentary business of up to $20,000. Last year MPs claimed an average of just over $3,000.
MPs who live outside of the capital are eligible for a Wellington accommodation allowance for rent or a mortgage of up to $16,000 a year - the issue that sparked the controversy over Bunkle and Hobbs. Averaged out, MPs claimed over $9,000 each last year.
There is also a superannuation scheme to which MPs contribute up to $6,800 a year. Taxpayers chip in up to $13,600 for each MP.
Constituent MPs also receive between $8,000 and $20,000 a year, depending on the size of their electorate, for a car or other expenses.
All MPs, their spouses and often their children, get free domestic airfares and subsidised international travel. In the 12 months to June last year (an election year), MPs spent on average nearly $30,000 on internal flights and spouses and dependants spent more than $10,000; subsidised international travel for MPs was about $2,000 while for spouses it was about $1,300.
Taxpayers also foot the bill for other transport, including $40 each on rail travel, $474 on car rentals and $7,301 on taxis.
There are also other extras - $1,000 for a home burglar alarm, use of the parliamentary pool and gym worth about $500 and phone rental worth about $800.
All up, a backbencher with an electorate MP gets a package of about $190,000 and a list MP gets about $180,000.
On top of all this, a pay rise in July will see backbench MPs get an extra $2,000 a year.
