Smith: Revealing travel costs would stress MPs' partners

Lockwood Smith. Photo / Supplied

Revealing how much MPs are costing taxpayers for their subsidised private international travel would put too much stress on their spouses and marriages, says Speaker Lockwood Smith.

"I will hold that line very, very forcefully," he said.

Asked how information on private international travel would put pressure on marriages, Dr Smith said: "Because it makes spouses feel immediately, 'I shouldn't go'. It is that simple, and that's wrong."

He said that since other information was released last week on individual MPs' spending, spouses and families had been feeling stressed, and spouses particularly about being with their MP partner.

"We always knew the risk of it happening but I am troubled at the extent that it is happening. Believe me, spouses are already feeling the pressure, and that's not fair."

Other than that, he said, he did not regret releasing the information.

Every three months, individual MPs' spending will be released setting out costs for Wellington accommodation, out-of-Wellington accommodation, air travel, surface travel and any travel funded by the Clerk's Office such as for select committee work.

The amount MPs spend on private international travel with a taxpayer-funded discount of between 25 and 90 per cent is contained in the "air travel" section, which combines domestic travel.

Dr Smith said that in deciding what to release, he had reached a balance between transparency and "not putting unfair pressure on marriages".

But he was adamant yesterday that no greater detail of expenditure would be added to the regular updates because that would cause stress, especially to MPs with children.

"If we want members of Parliament who are like other New Zealanders with families then we must stop this ridiculous pressure on them. It is unfair. You will destroy families.

"I am not going to have that on my conscience as Speaker."

He believed there had been some "irrational" and "irresponsible" commentary around the issue of ministers renting out their flats to other MPs. As long as they were rented out at market value and there was a cap on expenditure, there was nothing wrong with it.

Dr Smith said the review the Prime Minister had put in place for ministerial housing costs was "sensible."

John Key, who is responsible for the spending of ministers, will release at the same time as Dr Smith's statistics, ministerial costs of: Wellington accommodation; out-of-Wellington accommodation; domestic air travel (ministers only); surface travel (ministers, spouse and staff) and Cabinet-approved international travel.

As a result of the first lot of ministerial figures, it emerged that Finance Minister Bill English's allowance for living in the same Wellington family home had virtually doubled. He decided to pay it back and revert to the $24,000 cap of out-of-Wellington MPs.

He maintains a family home in Dipton in Clutha-Southland electorate.

Labour MP Trevor Mallard insists Mr English should be classed as a Wellington MP and says he was wrong to claim the out-of-town allowance.

Dr Smith said he might look again at the form that MPs have to fill in for their allowance but he said there was no question that Mr English's primary residence was in Dipton.