M.P.s clock up huge travel bill

Press, 25 September 1989, Page 8

M.P.s clock up huge travel bill

By

BRENDON BURNS

in Wellington

Taxpayers funded an estimated quarter of a million dollars worth of travel by members of Parliament during the five-week mid-year recess.

Some Cabinet Ministers spent thousands of dollars meeting specialists in portfolios for which they are no longer responsible. Details of travel during and around the time of the recess were obtained by “The Press” under the Official Information Act. Ministers spent more than $160,000 from midMay until early July. Mr Jonathan Hunt, then Minister of Tourism, topped the spending with $30,037 in 26 days in June. He visited Singapore, Japan, West Germany, Norway and Britain, meeting fellow Tourism and Broadcasting Ministers in each country. He also met officials in these disciplines in some countries and had “a number of other official engagements.” Mr Hunt retained Broadcasting as a portfolio in Mr Palmer’s Cabinet reshuffle, but lost Tourism to Ms Fran Wilde. The second-biggest spender was the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Mr Stan Rodger, who visited Australia, Hong Kong, Britain and Switzerland. In Geneva, he attended the International Labour Conference, the Commonwealth Ministers’ of Labour conference and a conference on refugees. Mr Rodger lost his

Labour post to Ms Helen Clark in the August reshuffle, and Immigration went to Mr Roger Douglas. A non-Cabinet rank Minister, Mr Peter Neilson, was the third-biggest spender. The Associate Minister of Finance spent $26,508 in France, Britain, West Germany and the United States.

His summary was “to attend the O.E.C.D. meeting, and undertake meetings in London, Frankfurt and New York on financial and economic matters.”

The former Minister of Police, Mr Peter Tapsell, clocked up $15,531 during a month overseas while the police spending cuts were being considered.

He spent time in the United States inspecting drug enforcement techniques only to return to Wellington and lose his portfolio. In all, Ministers and Under-Secretaries spent $165,111 in travel over the June Parliamentary recess.

But nearly three months later no costs are said to have come to charge for three weeks overseas by the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Mrs Margaret Shields. She visited Spain, Britain, Sweden, the United States, France and Israel on women’s issues, Customs and statistics matters. Mrs Shields lost the Customs portfolio to Mr Neilson in the August reshuffle. Apart from Ministerial travel, a number of other, M.P.S travelled overseas during the June recess. The Speaker, Mr Kerry Burke, led a group of members overseas on an itinerary which included points of call in South America. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger, went to Ireland, Britain, France and Switzerland. Up until the June recess, travel by Cabinet Ministers and undersecretaries since Labour won the 1987 election totalled nearly $3 million.