Appointment of advisors to Green MPs to be investigated

Gerry Brownlee

The Auditor-General's office is to investigate the legality of appointing taxpayer-funded advisors to two Green Party MPs, National's deputy leader Gerry Brownlee said today.

The announcement in November that advisors would be appointed caused controversy, with National saying the Greens were not part of the Government.

Under a post-election co-operation agreement, Jeanette Fitzsimons is spokesman on energy efficiency and Sue Bradford has taken over the Buy Kiwi Made programme started by Rod Donald, the former party co-leader who died suddenly in November.

National says the MPs are not accountable to Parliament because they are not ministers, and should not have advisors paid for from the same fund that provides ministerial staff.

The Government has not said whether any appointments have been made.

Mr Brownlee said today the Auditor-General had confirmed there would be an investigation into the legality of attaching two ministerial advisors to the Greens.

"This is not a trivial matter. It goes to the hart of whether Labour should be entitled to re-write the rules, without any discussion, so it can keep its mates onside with taxpayer-funded baubles," he said.

When the intention to appoint advisors was announced, Ms Fitzsimons said Mr Brownlee had his head in the sand and should have known that under MMP other parties could reach agreements with the Government.

"Under an MMP government work is done by people who are best qualified," she said at the time.

- NZPA