That there are representatives from the four biggest parties means no one inside Parliament is going to accuse the delegation of catching a ride on this particular version of the Gravy Train.
The response of both John Key and Andrew Little was to instead put distance between themselves and something which is really an out-and-out anachronism.
As the Taxpayers' Union noted, there is one particular element to these trips which inevitably sees them labelled as junkets - that is that MPs can take their wives and partners with them. That and the business-class return airfares.
It is against that backdrop that the current Speaker, David Carter, like his predecessors, has found himself on the back foot.
Carter seems to have recognised that there is a credibility problem and it falls on him to lift the game.
His reports of Speaker's tours consequently run to 30-plus pages. They reveal that if these trips are holidays, the constant round of meetings and appointments makes them very much a busman's holiday. Last year Carter also advanced the notion of "Speaker-led international diplomacy".
While there may be something to be gained from comparing notes with Speakers from elsewhere, such tours should also contribute to promoting this country's wider international interests.
Because of their status - Carter has argued - Speakers can open doors otherwise closed. If he is right, then surely he deserves a more modern, more appropriate vehicle as cover to carry that out - not the antiquated model he has inherited from a now distant age when politics and perks were not mutually exclusive.
