Summarised by Centrist
Political commentator Bryce Edwards says the latest controversy over Shane Jones’ $63,000 Toronto trip is not really about one minister, one limo, or one hotel bill.
It is about whether politicians who tell the public to accept restraint are willing to apply the same discipline to themselves.
Jones has dismissed scrutiny of his Canada trip as a media beat-up, reportedly telling Newstalk ZB: “Stop laundering these lies, you breathless hobbits.”
But Edwards argues the scrutiny is justified. Jones’ trip reportedly cost about $63,000, almost double the $33,068 Cabinet had approved, and included a chauffeured limousine despite his hotel apparently being only a short indoor walk from the conference venue.
Edwards says the public concern is not mainly about whether the sums are large in Budget terms. “The perks are relatively small; the breach of reciprocity is much larger.”
He broadens the issue beyond Jones, pointing to expensive ministerial travel, five-star hotels, domestic travel costs and the Wellington accommodation allowance.
The accommodation allowance is Edwards’ biggest concern because MPs who own Wellington property can still claim large annual sums. He says the system has turned “what was a reimbursement into an entitlement, and an entitlement into a property-wealth machine.”
Edwards says the problem is made worse by fragmented rules across MP pay, accommodation, domestic travel, ministerial travel and former MP entitlements.
That allows politicians to say everything is technically transparent while the overall system remains hard for the public to understand.
Edwards’ main argument is that legitimate support has blurred into personal benefit. As he puts it, the public is demanding that political power not become “a private subsidy machine.”
