Shane Jones: From five-star hotels to state house

Former MP Shane Jones says the state house provides handy parking.

Former Labour MP Shane Jones earned infamy for his stays in hotels as a minister, but the frequent flying ambassador's crash pad in Auckland these days is a humble South Auckland state house.

Mr Jones' home is in Kerikeri but when he is in Auckland for work or in transit he and his partner Dot Pumipi often stay with her mother, Linda, who lives conveniently close to the airport. Mr Jones said when he was not overseas he usually spent from Tuesday to Thursday in Auckland for work.

Mr Jones' presence had clearly been noticed - the Herald was tipped off that he was staying in the property.

Mr Jones said he did have a place to stay in the inner city but often went to Linda's instead because Dot liked to spend time with her mother, who is in her 70s. He said there could be troubles in the neighbourhood and he liked to flatter himself that he provided a sense of security "even though I'm no Buck Shelford".

It did provide handy parking for his car while he was overseas and meant he did not have to use hotels when catching early flights.

The state house crash pad option could be about to come to an end, however.

Linda is about to be moved to a smaller, one-bedroom, house so her house can be redeveloped for a large family.

Linda was not paid for having them: "There's no dodgy boarding arrangement," he said.

A Housing NZ spokeswoman said there were no specific rules preventing state house tenants having family to stay unless it breached the tenancy agreement, caused problems for neighbours or there were issues of overcrowding. "It's a matter of common sense."

The Ministry of Social Development allows those on benefits or the accommodation supplement to have someone stay for up to three nights a week before it affected their entitlements.