Chester Borrows: Mission to Europe no junket

Chester Borrows addressing the crowd at the opening ceremony for the Vintage Car Club Rally 2012 in Wanganui. WGG 10Aug12 - Chester Borrows WGG 02Oct12 - WGG 04Oct12 - WGG 08Oct12 - Chest

I am away on the Speaker's Delegation to four countries in Europe.

The national media have made a lot of this in their cycle of news - they know that annually there is a Speaker's Delegation and throw that in with quarterly releases of MPs' expenses and various budget documents and annual events.

The Parliamentary media reporters know that they don't have to drum up much on their own. The periodic drop of innuendo and fat-cat accusation will no doubt resonate with the public and so keep the ratings up.

The fact is, though, that New Zealand is held in very high regard with respect to its democracy and lack of corruption. This is despite the fact that many would like to portray us as knee-deep in mutual back-scratching, hand-washing and otherwise tickling the till.

In my six months as Deputy Speaker, we have entertained six delegations from other jurisdictions in New Zealand to find out how we make it all work so well.

Despite an MMP system foisted on the Axis post the Second World War to prevent another Hitler or Mussolini that has seen multiple governments fail and fall at times on an annual basis in those countries, New Zealand's experience has been of stable and certain governments lasting their full terms.

New Zealand enjoys a Parliament made up of a far more representative bunch of MPs - more Maori and Pacific Islanders, more women, more ethnic groups, more gay, more young and far more representative of diverse opinion such as the Greens vote, the centre vote, the Maori vote, the aged community vote etc.

And yet, apart from those chucking frequent and high decibel accusations that MPs only get elected by bending the rules, this disparate bunch go the distance, and even though every MMP government has been a minority government, they don't collapse.

This may be mind-numbingly boring to the average Kiwi and journalist, but this is hugely intriguing to those wishing to establish solid governments in other parts of the globe.

This is why the delegation is travelling to Europe, visiting France, Ireland, Poland and Germany. Keeping these relationships going as a parliament and not just a government means that, regardless of what hues or preferences various governments may hold fast to in the future, the relationships cross party affiliations.

The major parties are always represented and the minor parties are represented on a turnabout system proportional to their vote.

While away, the delegation will also mark significant anniversaries of World War I battles and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. I will represent New Zealand at the Anzac Day ceremony in Berlin.

What has stirred up the hornets' nest on this occasion is the presence of MPs' spouses, which is the norm. Nobody has informed the public that it doesn't cost the taxpayer a single cent more to have spouses accompany MPs because all added costs are covered by those MPs - but why let the facts get in the road of a slow news week?

One MP applauded for not bringing his spouse doesn't even have a spouse to bring - so there's another huge plug for investigative journalism.

I have often said that some people will not be happy until MPs are paid the minimum wage and live in a dormitory.

Most know it is a huge privilege to serve their community as a representative in Parliament, do not abuse that privilege and happily cop the flak from time to time.