Speaker aims to heal sickie system

Chris Carter. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Chris Carter's voluntary two-month leave from Parliament has highlighted loopholes in the rules on MPs' absences that could allow an MP to stay off work until the next election on almost full pay.

Speaker Lockwood Smith said yesterday he wants to address the unsatisfactory rules.

An electorate MP could stay away for the rest of the parliamentary term with very little penalty - a maximum of $30 a week in a sitting week - under the Civil List Act 1979.

Dr Smith said yesterday that was inadequate and he wanted it addressed.

"I have a real concern for the integrity of Parliament and it worries me that a member could, in a worst case scenario, decide they are not coming back at all this term,"

"I don't think anyone would pretend that the provisions under the Civil List Act are very satisfactory."

He said he was not suggesting that Mr Carter, a suspended Labour MP, would abuse the system.

Mr Carter, who was adamant during his attacks last week on Labour leader Phil Goff, that he wasn't unwell, is said by friends to be sick and in need of rest.

While the Government is to make it easier for employers to demand medical certificates from employees, no proof is needed from MPs.

MPs are not employees and are not subject to employment contracts and laws - though that has never been tested in court.

Ordinary employees are entitled to a statutory minimum of five days sick leave in a 12-month period - after six months continuous service - with the ability to accumulate unused leave up to 20 days.

Dr Smith said he had received a letter from Mr Carter's lawyer - friend Claudia Elliot - saying he would be away from Parliament for two months because he was "unwell and unfit to attend work".

While Mr Carter's lawyer has indicated he will be away until October 4, under the rules, he will require the Speaker's permission after September 16.

The rules say he can be absent for 14 sitting days without requiring the consent of the Speaker.

After that, if the Speaker is not satisfied an MP's absence is for good reason, an MP's pay can be docked by $10 a sitting day.

Parliament usually sits only three days a week.

The penalty was set in 1979 but if it had kept pace with inflation, it would be only about $50 today.

Dr Smith said he had not decided what he would do after September 16 and how he would determine if Mr Carter could continue to be away.

The last MP who was subject to the $10 penalty for absence was Taito Phillip Field, who is serving six years imprisonment for bribery and corruption and perverting the course ofjustice.

Mr Goff and Labour president Andrew Little have accepted the word of Mr Carter's friends that he is sick.

But Prime Minister John Key does not believe he is.

"He didn't look very sick to me last week, he looked fairly exercised about the fact that he didn't think Phil Goff could win an election."

THE LOOPHOLES
* An electorate MP absent for the remainder of the parliamentary term would lose $30 a week.
* A sick MP does not have to produce a medical certificate.
* Chris Carter's lawyer has told Parliament's Speaker that the "unwell" MP will be away for two months.