Elton John tickets, investment homes and company owned – MPs' financial interests revealed

A number of MPs, including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, were gifted tickets to see Elton John in concert last year, according to MPs' pecuniary interests.

But the yearly list of MPs financial interest, just released, is somewhat shorter than it has been in the past due to Covid-19.

The list is usually chock-full of colourful gifts MPs have been given from travelling dignitaries or other VIPs.

That, however, is not the case this year.

The list does show, however, that the year of Covid-19 had an impact on the prime ministerial wardrobe.

Ardern likes to showcase New Zealand designers, and often declares loaned items of clothing or jewellery in her return.

Last year, she listed loaned items from eight designers, including Kiri Nathan, Kate Sylvester, Juliet Hogan and Tania Carlson, as well as an "item" from Deadly Ponies.

Over the past year, she only declared items from two: Juliette Hogan and jewellery designers Zoe and Morgan.

The list also gives a glimpse into some of the wealth held by some new MPs.

Botany MP Chris Luxon, for example, owns seven properties across New Zealand – six in Auckland (two residential and four investment properties) and one residential property in Wellington.

The only MPs who owns more real property that him – that is, property listed outright in the pecuniary list – is National MP David Bennett, who is listed as having eight real properties.

Gerry Brownlee, Barbara Kuriger, Mark Mitchell and Adrian Rurawhe (who has an interest in a number of Māori land blocks) all have six and Andrew Bayly has five.

The only MPs without real property are Labour's Naisi Chen, Keiran McAnulty and Helen White, as well as Green MPs' Marama Davidson, Chlöe Swarbrick and Ricardo Menéndez March.

Act leader David Seymour has not listed any property of his own, but has included family members' two properties held in trusts of which he is a beneficiary.

Seymour said he had not realised he needed to include them in his register until recently.

After Seymour did that, National MP Todd Muller also moved to list his interest in the old childhood house where his mother lives, and the family kiwifruit orchard. Muller is a beneficiary of the family trust which owns that.

As well as providing an update of the major assets owned by MPs – such as houses, businesses and retirement savings – it also shows the gifts they receive.

MPs need to declare a gift if it has an estimated market value of more than $500.

Usually, Ardern's list of gifts is extensive but this year there were only six items on the list.

She got a Christmas gift hamper from the ambassador of Cuba and a number of loaned clothing items from Juliette Hogan and Zoe & Morgan.

She also got a free ticket to see Elton John in concert last year, paid for by CRS music.

And she's not alone: Andrew Bayly, Paul Goldsmith and Melissa Lee all got their tickets to the show paid for as well.

National leader Judith Collins – who the list shows is a part-owner of CDL Hotels – was given a coat and jacket from Trelise Cooper and a skincare package from Antipodes.

She also listed "book royalties" from her Pulling no Punches book released last year.

Collins is one of a number of MPs who were gifted a similar package from Antipodes.

The list shows that National MP Chris Bishop is a part-owner of the Wellington-based Parrot Dog craft beer company.

But his list of business interest pales in comparison to National MP Stuart Smith who has interests in 27 companies and businesses.

It's an extensive portfolio, including Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Restaurant Brands, Amazon, Alibaba and Berkshire Hathaway.