Green MP backs extra travel perk for children

Metiria Turei. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Greens co-leader Metiria Turei is backing a plan to expand the travel perks for MPs' children which potentially opens the way for MPs to claim for taking their children on holiday.

Parliament's Speaker, Lockwood Smith, revealed last week that he was considering changing the rules to allow the children to travel anywhere in New Zealand to join their MP parent rather than just between their home and Wellington.

School-aged children now get four return trips to Wellington a year to allow them to see their MP parent while he or she is working in Parliament.

However, Dr Smith said most children could travel only during the school holidays - when the House was in recess and few MPs were in Wellington.

He believed more flexibility was warranted but said he did not intend to make it more expensive or expand it beyond the equivalent of four trips a year. A financial cap was one possibility.

Ms Turei said it was a sensible proposal which better fitted the reality of an MP's working life. Any rule change could stipulate that the perk was to be used only when the MP was on work trips rather than private holidays.

She said MPs often spent the holiday recesses working elsewhere around the country rather than in their hometowns.

Ms Turei said she had no issue with limiting the number of trips, but it made sense for children to travel to wherever their parents were, rather than just Wellington.

"That's the point, really. Especially for those who have younger children, it can get difficult to see them."

She said her own daughter was now 17 and no longer travelled to Wellington as much. However, the trips had been important when her daughter was younger.

Ms Turei said although she believed that particular allowance was warranted, the high level of scrutiny and perceived lack of public accountability around MPs' allowances reinforced the need for an independent person or body to be charged with settling allowances - a call which former senior civil servant Mark Prebble has now also made.

Dr Smith's proposal to alter the provisions for children was revealed in an investigation by the Auditor-General into the credit card spending of Cabinet minister Phil Heatley.

Dr Smith is also moving to reverse an apparent mistake in the Speaker's rules for children under 5, who have traditionally had unlimited travel.

The Auditor-General found the Parliamentary Service had been incorrectly allowing unlimited travel for such youngsters to continue, despite a rule change in 2007 restricting their travel to four trips as well.

Dr Smith said that 2007 change was a mistake and would be rectified so preschoolers again had unlimited travel. It applies to about 16 MPs and he believed it was important to allow it for such young children.

He is expecting to release a revamp of the Speaker's rules for MPs' spending in June or July. It is expected to also make changes to MPs' accommodation allowances and address the situation where MPs have an interest in the property they claim the allowance for.

At present, the independent Remuneration Authority sets salaries but other allowances are decided by the Speaker. They are based on recommendations by the Parliamentary Service Commission - a multi-party grouping of MPs whose deliberations and recommendations are secret.

It is difficult for the public to see exactly how the money is spent because the Parliamentary Service, which administers the spending, is not subject to the Official Information Act.WHAT THEY GET NOW
* 5-18 years old: A maximum of four return flights from home to Wellington each year to visit MP working in Parliament.
* Speaker can agree to other destinations as a substitute if flight cost is same or cheaper as from home to Wellington.
* Under-5s: No limit on number of trips or destinations if with MP or spouse/partner.
* No international travel subsidies.

LIKELY CHANGE FROM JULY
* Four return flights to any destination in New Zealand.
* Not known if restricted to when parent MP is away from home on work duties rather than private (such as holiday).
* Under-5s: Unchanged.