Why am I not surprised to find that our politicians are no better than their British counterparts when it comes to screwing every cent they can get out of the parliamentary perks system?
It is not the fact that they make so much merry with public money that causes me concern, for it is a trait common to politicians the world over, from African dictators to Middle-Eastern despots and right on through all the ruling elites, including those of democracies.
What makes me sad - and the real cause for concern - is that our Kiwi MPs seem to see nothing amiss or amoral in bludging on the taxpayer to the extent that they do.
It must, I think, have a lot to do with being able to spend someone else's money, in this case funds supplied by the long-suffering taxpayer. They don't have to earn it, they don't have to produce it, and, it seems, in the case of nearly $1.7 million ($14,000 for each MP), they don't have to account for it.
I suppose it's only human nature that the absence of accountability engenders in our politicians a prodigal mindset.
We have long prided ourselves that our politics are free of the corruption we read about in other countries, notably Australia, the United States and Britain.
But one has to wonder whether the disclosures in the past week or so of MPs expenses claims and perks don't reveal the thin end of a very nasty and dangerous wedge.
It is, perhaps, ironic that this information should come to light when so many New Zealanders are being forced, through no fault of their own, into straitened circumstances brought on by the recession.
You would think that at a time when we are all being exhorted to thrift and saving, and when serious efforts are being made to cut public spending, those who insist on such endeavours would be only too happy to show an example.
No such luck. In fact, two of the loudest voices in the economy, Finance Minister Bill English and Act's Sir Roger Douglas, have revealed a propensity for appropriating public money which might have surprised even a few of their colleagues.
Mr English receives $900 a week in ministerial accommodation subsidy for a home he owns in Wellington that is valued at $1.2 million.
Now, $900 a week - which, incidentally, includes the cost of gas, power, insurance, and cleaning - is nearly twice what my wife and I receive each week in national superannuation, and nearly three times as much as a couple receive from the unemployment benefit.
Mr English claims this sum on the grounds that his actual home is in Dipton, a village in his Clutha-Southland electorate.
Yet we are told that Mr English's wife, a medical practitioner, lives and works in Wellington and that their six children live with their parents and go to school in Wellington.
Mr English, as Deputy Prime Minister, receives a salary of $276,200. I don't begrudge him one cent of that, by the way. I wouldn't do his job for all the money in the looming budget deficit.
Mr English is doing nothing either illegal or corrupt - his claims are wholly legitimate under the present system.
Nevertheless, his income and expenses figures are such as to bring tears to the eyes of those hundreds of thousands of Kiwis struggling to make do on the average wage or less, or even those on double the average wage for that matter.
As for Sir Roger, who has gone through $44,000 in taxpayers' money on overseas holidays, including a trip to England with his wife to visit family, what do you expect?
This is the now doddering old has-been - not even yesterday's man, but last century's man - who introduced us to laissez-faire capitalism and all the greed and lack of financial accountability that came with it.
And the man, too, who is with almost every breath demanding that public spending be cut and taxes either lowered or abolished.
Yet Sir Roger is not only collecting the substantial pension to which he is entitled as a former MP, he is also receiving the same national superannuation I get.
And on top of all that, as a list MP he is pocketing a salary and perks amounting to about $180,000 a year.
Once again, nothing Sir Roger has done is either illegal or corrupt; it is simply milking a shonky system to the max.
Then there are the ministers who are living in official government accommodation and renting other Wellington properties they own.
Prime Minister John Key's announced a review of accommodation entitlements should be only a start. What he must do - and quickly - is throw the whole parliamentary expenses and entitlements system open to a full review. Mr English's $12,000 refund is too little, too late.
Corrections and clarifications
Sir Roger Douglas no longer receives his Government pension, as stated in this column. He forfeited it when he re-entered Parliament. Sir Roger's air travel expenses of $44,000 included work-related flights as well as personal overseas travel.
