1. What's this all about?
rrThe argument has been about whether Alliance MP Phillida Bunkle and Labour's Marian Hobbs were lawfully entitled to receive taxpayer-funded, out-of-Wellington living allowances while telling voters they lived in Wellington.
2. Were they entitled to the allowance?
Yes, according to a report from parliamentary officials last month.
MPs receive a Wellington allowance if they say their "primary residence" is outside Wellington.
These two MPs enrolled in the Wellington Central electorate, even though Marian Hobbs' home was then in Christchurch and Phillida Bunkle's primary residence was in Waikanae and not her cottage in the inner-city suburb of Thorndon.
3. Why has this whole business erupted again?
The focus has shifted to new information about the Wellington Central enrolment and when Phillida Bunkle actually started living at Waikanae. It has emerged that she and three other members of her immediate family were enrolled as living in the one-bedroom Wellington cottage last election.
Act's Richard Prebble says either the family did not live there and the enrolments were fraudulent or the family did live there and the claim for out-of-town expenses was fraudulent. The Crown Law Office - the Government's legal adviser - is now looking into this.
Meanwhile, National has revealed a three-month disparity between the time Phillida Bunkle began claiming expenses and the time her relocated Waikanae house received town planning certification from the local council.
4. What is Phillida Bunkle's explanation?
She says she's not responsible for where her adult children choose to enrol. She agrees she was living in the Waikanae house, but says the council certificate was issued late.
5. What does the law say about where you should enrol?
The rules for determining a person's place of residence for the purpose of the Electoral Act state: "A person resides at the place where that person chooses to make his or her home by reason of family or personal relations, or for other domestic or personal reasons."
