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Government spending - Source: ONE News -
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Details of ministers' spending on credit cards was released today, including both legitimate items and those which broke the rules. Details of some of the claims are below.
Shane Jones, former Labour minister
- Porn movies in hotels, charter plane, wine, magazines, CDs and books
- On one occasion he chartered a flight. His scheduled flight was cancelled so drove to Auckland from Kaitaia, but needed to get to a meeting in Tauranga where he was to speak.The flight was around $1200, he said.
- Wine costs included an event at which he hosted a group of architects and about $300 of wine was drunk.
Tim Groser, current National minister
- Dinners, drinks and alcohol, within the rules.
- More than $100 on minibars in Copenhagen, Bangkok, Australia, and England.
- Shopping for new clothes when his luggage was lost, including $439 for walking boots. "I required suitable footwear for walking in the snow", a note on his reconciliation form says. At Benetton he purchased dress pants and a top for $135 and at Angerer Sport he bought a snow jacket for $958.
- Staff leaving functions and a gift from a toy shop for a departing staff member.
Chris Carter, former Labour minister
- $250 on flowers for his partner.
- A number of luxurious treatments during his years of travel - from massages in Fiji in to spa treatments in Argentina in 2006.
- Over $800 spent on kitchenware and luggage at exclusive stores in London in 2003.
- He repaid all the money after parliamentary services staff pointed out the spending to him at the time.
Winston Peters, former minister in Labour-led government
- Health club treatments, alcohol, cigarettes, and duty free.
- More than $250 for clothing while on a trip to Africa.
- A video while staying in a hotel in Rome
- All the money, totalling around 2000 dollars was repaid to Ministerial Services.
Helen Clark, former Labour Prime Minister
- She didn't spend anything on herself on overseas trips. Meals were modest.
- The legendary communicator racked up some impressive hotel phone bills.
- At home she did use her card for one personal item - $19.95 for a pair of gumboots when she visited the flooded Bay of Plenty.
Phil Goff, current Labour Party leader
- Careful with his credit card.
- $A14.95 on a movie while in a Melbourne hotel in 2005.
- Domestic air fare of $245 in early 2003, which he paid back in
August of that year.
- Fair amount spent on sparkling mineral water from hotel minibars
as well as several purchases of sleeping pills while he was
away.
John Key, current National Prime Minister
- Very careful with his credit card.
- The records show he favours All Black jerseys as gifts when he goes overseas and five were bought for $810.
- When Prince William visited he was given Buzzy Bee cufflinks worth $99 and a $272 Swanndri.
Murray McCully, current National Foreign Affairs Minister
- Nearly $2000 of taxpayer money on laundry services.
- Gifts for foreign dignitaries, consisting largely of All Blacks jerseys and wine. After New Zealand qualified for the football World Cup, he started gifting All Whites' clothing instead.
Parekura Horomia, former Labour minister
- Chinese is clearly his favourite cuisine.
- Had the habit of taking officials out for dinner at three popular
Wellington restaurants - The Green Parrot, Grand Century Chinese
Restaurant and Monsoon Poon.
- On one 2004 dinner alone $500 was dished out on a Chinese buffet,
$250 of that was later repaid out of Horomia's pocket.
- His staff also received frequent letters from parliamentary staff
about the large number of missing receipts and the length of time
it was taking to reconcile receipts.
Mita Ririnui, former Labour associate minister
- Forced to pay back hundreds of dollars he spent on golfing gear, a mountain bike, meals and duty free shopping.
- In 2007, during a visit to Perth, Ririnui spent over 600-dollars on golfing gear, from gloves to putters.
- In February 2008 he also spent nearly 900 dollars at a cycle store in Tauranga.
Michael Cullen, former Labour Finance Minister
- Spent over $1,500 on food and alcohol in one meal when he took Aussie Treasurer Wayne Swan and others out for a meal at Wellington's Boulcott Street Bistro in July 2008. The bill included $900 spent on 15 mains and $600 on a range of liquor, from bottles of wine to the "liquor special" costing $65 each.
Annette King, Labour Party Deputy Leader
- Vancouver last June: Almost $50 at an outlet called Fashion and Fun and over $40 at the Radisson Hotel. The spending was queried. Documents don't say what the money was spent on or if it was reimbursed.
- $100 bar tab last April at the Chatham Lodge.
Judith Tizard, Former Labour minister
- $300 dollars in November 2007 for personal expenditure. Reimbursement was made but Ministerial Services demanded an explanation. She said she'd got the card mixed up with her personal one three times.
- Over-billed Ministerial Services by over $60 for a staff Christmas party.
Rick Barker, Former Labour Minister
- Charged 16 Corona beers during a two person meal, later
reimbursed "some" of the cost.
- Stacked up an $176 bill on dinner for two at Lone Star Auckland
in 2003, reimbursed $81.50 to cover the cost of one meal and "some
drinks"
- Had trouble getting receipts to Ministerial Services on time,
receiving occasional reminders.
- Lost receipts for dinners, car rentals, including a $1034.34 van
rental in Washington in November 2006, and for accommodation. One
of the receipts was for $336 Terroir At Craggy restaurant in
Havelock North in June 2004.
- Two movies ordered at a Hilton Washington Embassy Row room worth
about $45 in 2006.
Pita Sharples, Maori Party co-leader and Minister of Maori Affairs
- Reimbursed $342.50 in April last year, apparently for meals in Wellington, and $190 from a $570 hotel bill in Whangarei in January this year.
Progressive Leader Jim Anderton
-Paid $620 for a massage for himself and his wife while in Kuala Lumpur in 2008. He repaid the amount.
Staff in former Labour minister Trevor Mallard's office
- Paid about $1200 to hire limousines in New York while he was there as education minister in 2003. In 2005, his staff's card was used to pay for $200 worth of food at Wellington's Backbencher pub for a staff teambuilding function because they were facing "very heavy stress work levels".
A staffer from Prime Minister John Key's office
- Had a card stolen last October and the subsequent $850.15 worth of spending included $390 at a Wellington party pill shop, nearly $400 at a tobacco shop, and a Burger King meal. BNZ reimbursed the money.
Former Labour Trade Minister Jim Sutton's office
- Spent $131 for a massage in China, he said he had never had a massage.
Former Labour Minister Nanaia Mahuta
- Had to pay $273 in 2007 to get her self-drive ministerial car out of a parking lot in Wellington.
Former Corrections Minister Damain O'Connor
- Watched two in-house movies, which he said were not porn, and repaid $61 for a Body Shop gift and $667.10 for personal items in Singapore and Paris.
Dover Samuels' office
- Paid $25 for a staffer to go up the Sky Tower in Auckland - it was later repaid.
