Key backs subsidy of MP's trip to India

Prime Minister John Key yesterday defended the fact that the Southern Institute of Technology subsidised a private trip by Invercargill MP Eric Roy to India to back its bid to attract trainee pilots to a proposed aviation academy in Invercargill.

"If the Southern Institute of Technology felt that he was providing value, it is not out of the ordinary or the rules of Parliament for someone to do that," Mr Key told reporters yesterday.

He said it would be important for Mr Roy to declare it on his pecuniary interest register but said of the subsidy itself: "I think that's okay."

Asked if it was a good use of public money, Mr Key said the institute was "largely a commercial entity looking to raise their profile and the number of students they have going there".

"I guess it is a commercial decision for them to see whether the payment of expenses is worth it relative to the increase in number of students they will have coming to the course."

Mr Roy said the institute paid for a flight from Singapore to New Delhi and for internal flights in India, which he estimated to be up to $2500.

He said it was not the first time the institute had subsidised a trip for him - he accompanied its staff to Thailand - "and it won't be a last".

He had also been to Inner Mongolia with the institute but was not subsidised on that trip.

Mr Roy said the institute - which has zero fees for New Zealand students - was "a bit different".

"There isn't another institution that has the level of community support that SIT has. Is it unusual? Probably. Is it breaking the rules? No it's not, so next question."

Mr Roy's trip to India in February was part of a delegation led by Internal Affairs Minister Richard Worth in his private capacity as chairman of a trade promotion body, the India Trade Group (ITG).

Dr Worth was a director of New Zealand Aviation, a company which was proposing a joint venture with SIT and the flying academy.

Dr Worth resigned from New Zealand Aviation this week when Mr Key learned of the connection. The Prime Minister said he would not have approved the trip if he had known about it.

Trade Minister Tim Groser had been a director but resigned in February.

Also on the delegation were two of Dr Worth's fellow directors in New Zealand Aviation, Bhavdeep Dhillon, and Giri Gupta, who set up the India Trade Group.

Waitakere City yesterday sought to clarify its involvement in the delegation, saying its chief executive, Vijaya Vaidyanath, and international relations manager, Richard Duncan, were in India at the invitation of Mr Groser, who was leading a delegation at the same time.

It had nothing to do with the business arrangements of the ITG group, particularly with respect to aviation, a spokesman said in a statement.

Mr Duncan, however, did accompany the ITG delegation from New Delhi to Chandigarh and Amritsar "to explore the potential of civic relationships".

In the wake of the publicity, Dr Worth has resigned from all positions he held including another directorship he shared with Mr Gupta, on the Indian Overseas Group, and one he shared with Mr Gupta and Mr Dhillon, Cemix Ltd, a concrete company.

Mr Dhillon told the Herald yesterday that Dr Worth, who has a PhD in international trade, had never been paid for the directorships.

Mr Dhillon did not believe there had been any conflict of interest on the trip to India because it had nothing to do with Dr Worth's portfolio.

He said all members of the delegation paid their own expenses.