Harawira investigated over Paris trip 

Source: NZPA

• WATCH the video (1:43)

The Maori Party is unhappy one of its MPs took a tiki tour to Paris while on an official parliamentary trip.

Hone Harawira could be forced to pay back hundreds of tax payers dollars, but he says he has done nothing wrong. 

The glamour, the romance, the culture of Paris - the lure of the City of Love had proved too much for Harawira, who skipped an official engagement for a day trip with his wife to the French capital.

"Notre Dame, the Louvre, up the Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, see the Mona Lisa. I mean New Zealanders all over the country would love to see that, I'm up there why shouldn't I take that opportunity?" Harawira said when asked about the trip.

But it was tax payers that paid for that opportunity and his party says he should have stuck to the schedule.

Asked if it was inappropriate that the tax payer essentially paid for him to go on a trip to represent the country and he decided to take a day off with his wife for a jaunt in Paris, he says he did nothing wrong.

Harawira skipped a European parliamentary delegation meeting in Brussels, saying many of the issues that were to be discussed had been broached at dinner the night before.

He says the meeting's chairwoman was comfortable with his decision to visit Paris.

"Well actually I cleared it with the chair person of the committee who was hosting us the next day, she laughed," says Harawira.

He says he's a hard working MP who takes the opportunity for time out when it's available, which is a rarity.

Harawira, National's Katrina Shanks and Labour's Rajen Prasad were all representing New Zealand on the 12 day trip to Geneva and Brussels.

But when Harawira told the Labour MP about the Paris trip, Prasad said 'what goes on tour stays on tour', though he denies covering up for the Maori Party MP.

The two MPs are tight lipped on the saga with both Shanks and Prasad not sharing their thoughts on the matter on Thursday.

The Speaker's office says Harawira's trip cost around $13,000 and is considering whether he should have to refund tax payers for the day he was not working.

Harawira also tagged on a trip to Hawaii on the way home, but paid for it himself.

It's not the first time the MP has mixed business and pleasure - he had to pay back more than a thousand dollars in 2007 when he left a trip to Alice Springs early.

Harawira does not reckon most New Zealanders mind his trips, though that does not seem to be the opinion of his party.