|
Hi Friend,
Day-in,
day-out, the Taxpayers' Union is exposing government waste. Last week
it was the Film Commission's $145,000 French Riviera bonanza. This
week it was Health NZ bosses chowing down $60k of fine dining,
including $32-per-canape. And there's more to come.
But we all
know where the real waste is: the dark corners where the public isn't
allowed to look. The parts of Government spending that happen in
secret.
Parliament
is the main culprit.
Not many people know this,
Friend, but MPs' expenses are not publicly available, except when they
are illegally leaked. In fact, while Ministerial expenses are free for
all to see, what is "non Ministerial" and every expense applicable to
opposition MPs, government backbenchers (so their staff/offices) is
protected by a special carve out of freedom of information
law.
We
want to change that. But
we need your support to force Parliament to 'Open the
Books'.
Wasting bucket loads on bubbly, Bali, and
birdhouses? But you're not allowed to look?! 😵
Back in
2009, the UK had what became known as the "MP expense scandal". Armed
with a CD Rom of transactions, the TaxPayers' Alliance (our UK-sister
group) exposed UK Members of Parliament for truly outrageous 'expense
claims'. They included:
- An ornate
duck house for a pond ($3500 NZD)
- Moat
cleaning ($4720 NZD) - yes, seriously!
- Hedge
clipping of helipad ($1200 NZD)
- Treating
dry rot at a second home ($48300 NZD)
- Furniture,
homeware and electric goods, including three food mixers and two
microwaves for just one MP ($35,000 NZD)
TIP OF THE ICEBERG EXPOSED: MPs taking the Mickey (with our
money) 💰
Friend, last month we got a wee glimpse into how New
Zealand's MPs are being just as reckless with the money they are
entrusted with to run their offices and constituency work.
Te Pāti
Māori MP Debbie Ngarewa-Packer managed to spend $39,209 on flights
over just three months! And, thanks to some social media investigation
work, it was evident that rather than flying to Hamilton,
Ms Ngarewa-Packer had been serving constituents holidaying in Hawaii on
your dollar.
We asked
for more details – it's taxpayer money after all – BUT were told by
Parliamentary Services to get lost!
You
see, while Government Ministers are covered by freedom of
information laws, non ministerial spending is still completely
secret.
That means
that other than knowing the total amount spent by an MP on travel, or on their
'office expenses', we are none the wiser about what it's actually going
towards.
Remember
former Minister, Tuku Morgan's $300 taxpayer-funded underpants? The
public only learned about those because he put it on his Ministerial
card, not his MP one. How many other MPs are doing the same thing, but
we just don't know it?
There's
also what are called the "Parliamentary Leader's Budgets" (applicable
to every political party in Parliament with some in the millions of
dollars). Last month Chris Hipkins took his partner to the UK
and Europe using some of this money – but the costs are a state
secret. How is that fair?
We
say, if taxpayers pay for these 'leader's budgets', taxpayers ought to
know what they are being used for.
That's
why I'm asking for your support to force the Government to change the
law and "Open the Books" on Parliament.
Bill before Parliament is the opportunity taxpayers have
been waiting for... 🙌
But for the first time, we have a real opportunity to fix their
loophole.
Right now
before Parliament is a Bill that changes how Parliament operates and
MPs are funded. As it stands, it actually removes what very few
safeguards are around MP's expenditure (for example, MPs won't need to
get their Party Leader's permission to head off overseas).
But with
one small change – to remove the carve-out Parliamentary Service's
financial information from the Official Information Act – we could
blow the books wide open.
Will
you back us in this effort so we can publicise the issue, and ensure
the Bill gets the public attention it deserves?
New Zealand
prides itself in being open and transparent. But most of the western
world's politicians made their expenses transparent decades ago. It's
time we caught up.
Mounting a campaign like this means we're up against
every political party in Parliament! But we can still
win.
A
tough campaign like this means we need big resources to give MPs no
other option but to open the books.
If MPs are
allowed to continue to hide behind blanket figures, the door will
remain open for abuse of expenses, just as we saw in the
UK.
Friend,
we're tired of asking Parliament nicely. Now's the time to shine a
light on MPs' spending and blow open the books.
We can't
let this opportunity pass.
Thank you
for your support.
 |
Jordan
Williams
Executive Director
New Zealand
Taxpayers’ Union
|
|
