More perks

[mashman]

I might have imagined it, but was watching the news, Heatley getting prepared for another roasting after his jaunt around the country on the train, followed by his chauffeur driven car, using 2 different chauffeurs... Then Key comes on the tele and says that they're looking into letting MP's or Ministers (I missed that bit) have 4 holidays a year with their family at the tax payers expense... Can someone shed a little more light? I can't seem to find anything on this... the Internet Filter must be working well...

[Tank]

.. the Internet Filter must be working well...

Must be a fucken scary place living with all those conspiracy theories.

But here you go - its on the front page of stuff.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/poli...om-travel-perk

edit - detail in short:

At present, MPs' school-age children can take four taxpayer-funded trips from their primary place of residence to Wellington each year so they can spend more time with their parents.

Dr Smith said he was considering making the rules more flexible, including allowing other destinations and whether a broken journey should count as a single trip.

"I am looking at whether that's possible [to allow destinations other than Wellington] because obviously, for it to be workable for some families, the only time children can travel is during holiday periods."

Parliament is usually in recess during school holidays and MPs are usually at home or on holiday elsewhere when their children would be able to make use of the travel allowance. Dr Smith said one solution could be to cap the overall cost of the travel perk, but he would retain the concept of four trips.

Changes were likely to be announced in June, but in the meantime he was intending to fix an anomaly in the rules covering travel for MPs' pre-school children.



fuck - add them all up and its still going to be less than Chris Carter spends in a week on travel.

[mashman]

Must be a fucken scary place living with all those conspiracy theories.

Only when the paranoia kicks in ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaa

"Dr Smith said he would also look at subsidised travel for former MPs"... WHY? this is utter bullshit... they've served and fucked off...

I don't get free holidays. I use my own money...

Jokes aside Tank... What do you think man? Is it Justified?

[MisterD]

"Dr Smith said he would also look at subsidised travel for former MPs"... WHY? this is utter bullshit... they've served and fucked off...

Given that former MP's get travel perks now I read that as as possibility of scaling them back...I've been pretty impressed by Lockwood as Speaker so far(not that he didn't have a complete partisan shambles to follow-on from).

[Mully]

"Dr Smith said he would also look at subsidised travel for former MPs"... WHY? this is utter bullshit... they've served and fucked off...
Jokes aside Tank... What do you think man? Is it Justified?

Former MPs already have their snouts in the trough for life, dont' they?

IMHO (even though you didn't ask me), it's all fucking unjustified. They get paid a whacking great salary (tell me with a straight face that Sue Bradford could command a six-figure salary in the corporate world), plus perks. and then we pay for the scum-sucking bastards to go on fucking holiday.

They're all the fucking same. Regardless of party colour - they might get into politics with noble intentions, but even the best of them looks out for number 1 after a while.

[Tank]

Only when the paranoia kicks in ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaa

"Dr Smith said he would also look at subsidised travel for former MPs"... WHY? this is utter bullshit... they've served and fucked off...

I don't get free holidays. I use my own money...

Jokes aside Tank... What do you think man? Is it Justified?

re the subsidised travel for former MPs - I dont believe in it.

But reading the paper it looks like its under review - Im guessing it will go down not up - along with a number of other items:

Dr Smith said he would also look at subsidised travel for former MPs, the definition of MPs' primary place of residence for determining accommodation allowances, ways to make the rules for MPs consistent with new rules for ministers, and how an MP's personal interest in his or her accommodation should affect their allowance.

That all looks like potential reductions to me.

[mashman]

Already in the trough... Get them the fuck out now... they've served... cheers... get yer hands of our cash and fuck off... someone somewhere is taking a rather large liberty at our expense and we still sit on our arses and do nothing about it... you just can't get good, honest staff these days... can't wait to see what they have lined up for the finale...

[Coldrider]

Already in the trough... Get them the fuck out now... they've served... cheers... get yer hands of our cash and fuck off... someone somewhere is taking a rather large liberty at our expense and we still sit on our arses and do nothing about it... you just can't get good, honest staff these days... can't wait to see what they have lined up for the finale...

Was part of their employment package at the time.

[mashman]

Was part of their employment package at the time.

... think me needs a career change... Oi John... Gizza Job cunty!

[Coldrider]

... think me needs a career change... Oi John... Gizza Job cunty!

19 months till the next election, you'll have to start your campaign pretty soon........if successful you'll just be like the rest of them anyway.

[rainman]

I've been pretty impressed by Lockwood as Speaker so far(not that he didn't have a complete partisan shambles to follow-on from).

This might surprise some, but I'd agree wholeheartedly with that. I couldn't comment as to whether Wilson was worst speaker ever, as has often been claimed, but she certainly seemed to be aiming for that. Lockwood seems to have at least some concept of what question time is for, and when a minister isn't even trying to answer the question.

[mashman]

19 months till the next election, you'll have to start your campaign pretty soon........if successful you'll just be like the rest of them anyway.

heh... the funny thing is I'm just like the rest of them anyway... may as well get paid for it.

[JimO]

Former MPs already have their snouts in the trough for life, dont' they?

IMHO (even though you didn't ask me), it's all fucking unjustified. They get paid a whacking great salary (tell me with a straight face that Sue Bradford could command a six-figure salary in the corporate world), plus perks. and then we pay for the scum-sucking bastards to go on fucking holiday.

They're all the fucking same. Regardless of party colour - they might get into politics with noble intentions, but even the best of them looks out for number 1 after a while.

LOL dont hold back say what you really think

[Swoop]

What other job is there, that when you leave (or get fired by the electorate) you can still be a burden on that "company"? Once an MP is out of office, regardless of the time spent as an MP, you should be OUT! No more $$$'s and NO perks. Air NZ should not have to provide seats for ex mp's. Period.

[bogan]

What other job is there, that when you leave (or get fired by the electorate) you can still be a burden on that "company"? Once an MP is out of office, regardless of the time spent as an MP, you should be OUT! No more $$$'s and NO perks. Air NZ should not have to provide seats for ex mp's. Period.

fucking aye, but when all the troughers agree on raping the tax payer, theres not a lot we can do about it. I wait for the day when we can vote for an AI instead, no travel allowances needed, it can just use the internets