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    MPs' expenses: $7.5m in six months and no regrets

    canterella
    canterella
    Nymph
    Nymph


    MPs' expenses: $7.5m in six months and no regrets Empty MPs' expenses: $7.5m in six months and no regrets

    Post  canterella Fri Jul 31, 2009 12:19 pm

    MPs clocked up expenses totalling $7.5 million in the first six months of this year and they're insisting it was money well spent.

    Even ACT MP Sir Roger Douglas, who took his wife on an overseas holiday, had no regrets about putting 90 percent of the airfares on taxpayers.

    He told reporters he gained that entitlement as a former MP in the 1980s.

    "I was spending time with my son and grandchildren," he explained before he started to lose patience with questions about whether it was a good idea during a recession.

    "Listen my friend, this is a right that Helen Clark has, Jim Bolger, it's something I would have been able to do whether I was an MP or not," said Sir Roger.

    He topped the chart for list MPs with claims totalling $62,663 which included $44,411 for air travel and $11,083 on the roads.

    Details of MPs' expense claims were released yesterday for the first time, a response to the uproar in Britain over parliamentary extravagance and intended to show that in New Zealand a more rigorous regime applies.

    The big spenders included:

    * Foreign Minister Murray McCully was way ahead of the pack with $263,284 for international travel, but that goes with the territory;

    * Labour leader Phil Goff was top of the list for MPs outside cabinet. His claims totalled $124,480 which included $79,027 on the road and $35,035 in airfares.

    * Labour's Chris Carter had the biggest opposition bill. The Te Atatu MP racked up $57,137 on airfares, $14,476 for surface travel and $10,667 on Wellington accommodation. He didn't front up but his senior colleague Trevor Mallard explained Mr Carter went to China, Britain, the US and Canada as foreign affairs spokesman.

    * Police Minister Judith Collins weighed in with an internal travel bill of $131,777. She said it showed how hard she worked.

    * Maori MPs were big spenders but their electorates are much larger than general roll seats. Hone Harawira put in claims totalling $79,000 and said it was Maori Party policy to get around and consult the people on big issues.

    * The most frugal MP was National's Katrina Shanks -- just $10,242 for six months. She was followed by the Greens' Sue Kedgley on $13,881 and Labour's Winnie Laban with $15,070.

    No


    It seems that former MPs and PMs continuously rorting money from taxpayers for travel for them AND their spouses, while at the same time running a successful business or having another very highly paid job is obscene. I've heard this morning someone on the radio asking if it's true that Jenny Shipley who owns a business for which she has to travel frequently to China, has the right to claim travel expenses from taxpayers.
    No wonder they cannot wait to stick their snouts in the trough Twisted Evil
    canterella
    canterella
    Nymph
    Nymph


    MPs' expenses: $7.5m in six months and no regrets Empty Re: MPs' expenses: $7.5m in six months and no regrets

    Post  canterella Fri Jul 31, 2009 12:23 pm

    Shit, even the employees of Air New Zealand don't get the perks these leeches do!
    Wizz
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    MPs' expenses: $7.5m in six months and no regrets Empty Re: MPs' expenses: $7.5m in six months and no regrets

    Post  Wizz Fri Jul 31, 2009 9:27 pm

    I wish I had the 'entitlement' to bend a whole population over a barrel and shaft them senseless for three years like old Roger did, then ask them to pay for my holiday ten years later. Evil or Very Mad
    Summoner
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    MPs' expenses: $7.5m in six months and no regrets Empty Re: MPs' expenses: $7.5m in six months and no regrets

    Post  Summoner Fri Jul 31, 2009 11:46 pm

    You would think that after leaving their previous "departmental" positions they would lose their entitlements... What the fuck is Jenny Shapless doing travelling on tax payers money? She was PM in the days of yore! Don't get me started on those that are ass raping the rest of us whilst claiming to be working "for" our future!!!!

    Fucktards should pull their heads out and pay their own bloody way!

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