Or rather, I wouldn't. I actually do in his case, since his shtick is privatisation and he couldn't expect that perk from a wholly privatised Air NZ.

It's not a perk from Air NZ. The Government picks up the full tab. They don't even have to use Air NZ.

Or rather, I wouldn't. I actually do in his…

What that sort of behaviour annoys the hell out of me, that's above board and legal spending as part of crazy life-long renummeration package.

Certainly was — and the irritant there was the hypocrisy not any question that he'd acted illegally or even improperly in claiming a perk that, if…

life-long renummeration package

Is his number up?
[Pendant]

And has Sir Roger's sense of entitlement already been forgotten?

What that sort of behaviour annoys the hell out of me, that's above board and legal spending as part of crazy life-long renummeration package.

Which is pretty different from what we have here, which is against rules and/or illegal.

So how come the emphasis on Labour? ... As for National, who knows who pays their expenses.

National ministers' credit card expense details were released months ago. It was following a fulsome release of National's expenses that Labour's were requested (OIA requests about Labour's credit card expenditure during its term…

Goff probably needed eight fingers of single malt to dull the pain of reading it. :)

Nobody ever needs more than two fingers of scotch, but sometimes you have to use one from each hand :)

So how come the emphasis on Labour?

Because the release covers a time period, most of which was Labour government?

namely, Merchant Category Codes (or MCC).

I know the MCC list by heart and neither "pay per view movies" (porn or otherwise) nor "expensive bubbly at restaurant" are separate from other hotel or restaurant spending. The flowers... well, it depends on where Carter purchased them.

Chris Carter's is eight fingers thick.

Oh boy. Tway-tu-tu-tway, tu-tu-twang-twang.

Some ministers distinguished themselves by the size of their records – Chris Carter's is eight fingers thick.

Goff probably needed eight fingers of single malt to dull the pain of reading it. :)

Exactly what the MPs should be resigning from is unclear. Spokes-thing? Caucus? Parliament? Life?

Let's give party leaders more power to force MPs out of Parliament. What…

And the simple answer. The passage, in 1982, of the Official Information Act.

From the Dominion Post:

Nobody imagined four months ago that a simple one-sentence request would result…

To prevent misuse of company cards in the private sector, US firms routinely use a service that Visa and some other card holders have offered for years – namely, Merchant Category Codes (or MCC).

These codes entail…

It prefixes The Standard as "left-leaning" but curiously leaves the far more rabid Whaleoil unadorned. Who knows how many readers innocently went there and…

Opo the Gay Golphin

I once asked my mum "what does that even mean ?"

She replied "Oh, that's just what passed for humour in the '50s".

They needed a person who came out clean in the 'audit' to front the coverage

Don't think Helen and Mike would taking that call.

When Jim Anderton called in to Q+A, they should have interviewed him live over the 'phone.

Maybe I'll wait for the book of the film of the book.

The Plastic Files: Dreck, Pies and Videotapes.

But if Labour knew that several 'wineboxes' full of papers were going to be released, there's no way Goff should have been off overseas.

If I have to defend Goff one more time today, I'm going to vomit. :) But if he had been in country this week, I wouldn't…

But if Labour knew that several 'wineboxes' full of papers were going to be released, there's no way Goff should have been off overseas.

That is quite precisely where Phill Goff needed to be.

But if Labour knew that several 'wineboxes' full of papers were going to be…

Porn? Surely the first thing Goff is going to be saying to Jones is "what the fuck were you thinking and how the hell didn't I know it weeks ago"?

Indeed — and I'm sure it's going to be like a few "WTF? Seriously, were you you high?" conversations Key…

Porn? Surely the first thing Goff is going to be saying to Jones is "what the fuck were you thinking and how the hell didn't I know it weeks ago"? That could have been managed 10 times better.

Totally. And there are so many ways they could have softened that…

It was on the radio, and it was more an indication that he valued his reputation rather highly, I think.

Sure, and to be fair I'd probably get a wee bit miffy in Cullen's position too. But I suspect the folks in Ministerial Services value their reputations too — and…

I didn't see that, but can Ministerial Services ever catch a break — it seems like they're damned no matter what they do.

It was on the radio, and it was more an indication that he valued his reputation rather highly, I think.

I think in Friday's reporting there was a bit about Cullen being highly miffed at the rather aggressive way Ministerial Services followed up his sole, emergency use of his card.

I didn't see that, but can Ministerial Services ever catch a break? It seems if they follow up then they're…

To stick up for Phil Goff a bit, you couldn't sanely argue Helen Clark and Michael Cullen were bad examples. If anything, they were the kind of people who gives credit card companies migraine. :)

It seems so. I think in Friday's reporting there was a bit about Cullen being…

(But yes this hasn't been handled well & Goff needs to show some leadership on this and make it clear Labour won't tolerate misuse of public funds.)

To stick up for Phil Goff a bit, you couldn't sanely argue Helen Clark and Michael Cullen were bad examples. If anything, they were…

Porn? Surely the first thing…

There are a number of possible reasons:

1) I very much doubt many of the former Ministers kept copies of their credit card statements so may have had only limited memory of their spending.…

I…

Don't often agree with him, but love his expression.

Meanwhile, I think laying formal complaints under the current, imperfect framework is a damn sight more edifying than watching nitwits like Bill English and Chris Carter whine about the media being out to get them and destroy their families etc.

Wasn't talking about them, although I do think Duncan Garner…

I submit that if a similar story had been written about a National Party minister your response might be stronger than "Meh. Take it to the Press Council."

@Russell: I don't care whether you believe me or not, but "take it to the Press Council (or the BSA)" is precisely…

Shane Jones ("I'm a movie buff") could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he'd rented another film, namely a pretty good Australian movie, The Dish, starring Sam Neill.

Saw that. Bunch of endearing Aussie boofheads saving the day with No.8 wire and dumb luck, but I was left…

I'm surprised that Labour didn't get out in front of this. They must have known this was going to be released this week. Why weren't some ministers making releases a couple of weeks ago so that they could control the story better? This has been awfully played.

Shane Jones ("I'm…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

I'ld preffer it if voilence wasn't part of the arena.

And Gio, "well" is the trigger prefix you need to look for :)

Hey! I don't want to kill the man. I'm not a monster.

This has been awfully played.

I presume "I'm surprised" is just a rhetorical device, Kyle.

Cheerful intellectual Kerre Woodham

Rofflenui!

The head girl doing her usual 20 seconds of research.

sigh* I've got my issues with both the BSA and the Press Council, but I think Tze-Ming and Keith achieved more by laying complaints to the Press Council over that load of Coddingtonswallop than any number of righteously indignant blog comments.

The two are hardly comparable.

Should Burton wish to…

trollish prickery

I'm genuine in my derision I assure you. And I'm not the one who suggested that line of action as a suitable remedy. If you're looking for "derailment", you'll need to look further.

And Gio, "well" is the trigger prefix you need to look for :)

Hey, I'm quite happy to denote my exasperation with some trollish prickery that leads to nothing but an incivil derailment of Tangiwai proportions. But I'm trying to kick the habit, if that's OK with you.

But back on point, am I wrong that politicians have recourse to the Press…

BTW, would it be unreasonable to suggest that any current or past Minister who thinks the coverage of their expenses is inaccurate or unbalanced has exactly the same recourse to the Press Council and Broadcasting Standards Authority as anyone else? No more, but certainly no less.

I suspect it would…

Yeah because those media standards watchdogs have absolutely spanked liars in the past, haven't they. Journos, presenters and editors will be quaking in their boots.

*sigh* I've got my issues with both the BSA and the Press Council, but I think Tze-Ming and Keith achieved more by laying complaints to…

Cheerful intellectual Kerre Woodham

Rofflenui!

Phil Goff thundered sanctimoniously that Heatley's position went to his head. He'd barely been minister for a year, Phil Goff expostulated, and his sense of entitlement was such that he ordered two…

Most gallingly, he used his ministerial card to buy flowers for Lianne Dalziel after she was sacked as Immigration Minister for lying about…

I didn't see the dead trees Herald yesterday, so really didn't have anything useful to say about the placement or the way the story was teased. But, yeah, I remain impressed by Burton's calm, factual response to a not unreasonable inquiry concerning an apparent discrepency between his schedule and…

Well, that was relatively painless wasn't it? And based on my own relatively limited experience of the suite life, perfectly sound advice too.

No, not really.

That non-story was the Herald's page three lead, under the headline: 'Empty room charged to ministerial card'.

It's not until the seventh paragraph that…

Somehow I don't think David Dimbleby or Jeremy Paxman would treat us to a Chris Carter impersonation, complete with pantomime fairy voice.

Paul Holmes did that?

Well, that was relatively painless wasn't it?

Actually, no, because the TV news last night simply said that it "cost the taxpayer $1600", so that'll be the impression left with most people.

A two-week trip to Europe by former Defence and Tourism Minister Mark Burton and his wife included a hotel bill of $15,203.46 – including two nights while the Burtons were on holiday elsewhere.

In 2003…

And who knows, they might actually stop treating scrutiny as some kind of impertinence on the part of the peasantry.

Lets hope you are right, and ALL parties take this stance now and in the future, not just to expenses, but to policy put forward as potential legislation as well.…

But if there are more performances like Paul Holmes' on Q&A this morning, I'll be forgiving them faster than they deserve.

By any reasonable measure, our MPs are not…

Chris Carter threatens to take his ball home.

Oh well, I guess we should be thankful Carolyne Meng-Yee didn't ask Carter and Kaiser if they're into having sex in the shower.

With all the emotional satisfaction to be had from railing about the issue, I think some people have lost touch with what's reasonable.

*sigh* Well, Annette King of all people actually made a good point — current and future ministers, of whatever party, are going to be a damn sight…

With all the emotional satisfaction to be had from railing about the issue, I think some people have lost touch with what's reasonable

Well put.

With all the emotional satisfaction to be had from railing about the issue,

So that smug look on the parade of commentators/talking heads tittering with sly innuendo, and who have obviously got their sex organs in a box – that they only open to check that they are still there…

Per-diems are not the answer; they're legitimising the rort in the same way that national's tax cuts legitimised tax cheating.

I/S ... as Slarty says, that's complete nonsense. Obviously you've never been obliged to spend extended periods away from home working. It's personally expensive not necessarily fun.

@Slarty ...

No,…

The legal defence in a charge of drink driving of "I'm a Cop" is bloody corruption!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3805584/Drink-driving-cop-avoids-conviction

But who has an Obama? He rocks.

And tackling porn is going to be at least 500 posts for all of us

Just.Don't.Start.

Srsly.

For a start , what is porn, it has so many forms?

but when our legislators try to get a pity party going I think the media aren't the one ones who could do with a generous reality check.

Absolutely agree, the average salary of this country is a disgrace and has been since the late 80's.

Well... I hear an undertone of rape in "When Harry Banged Sally" (and that would offend against the consenting adults criterion), but not in "When Harry and Sally Shagged". So not quite exactly.

Of for crying out loud... That being the case, I see an undertone of the hated patriarchy…

But exactly enough to take your point. There is an overtone of sniggering and moral prurience attached…

Exactly?

Yes. Unless the laws of the land have been manipulated when I wasn't looking.

Agree about bigger fish to fry and the un-fun-ness of that lifestyle – though it's a trade-off for pay or influence I guess.

Personally, I don't want to hear politicians raising a chorus of 'Poor Poor Pitiful Me' until they've auditioned for a room full of teachers, and nurses and…

Perhaps my governance expectations are higher.

Nah Sacha you're no snob ;), you have empathy for the underdog. Nothing wrong with that.
I just cant see the need for sacking people. I hate that people don't get a chance to make amends for their behaviour and to receive first strike…

Yet When Harry Met Sally and When Harry Banged Sally constitute exactly the same offence.

Exactly?

I have far more sympathy for the staff than the Ministers concerned anyway. Perhaps my governance expectations are higher.

(I'm a little appalled…

Even English got away…

And that's exactly why it shouldn't be on the taxpayers' tab, even momentarily. It's private, personal business. What is so hard to understand about that?

Nothing is hard to understand, and nobody is disputing it. I'm simply making the point that Jones was singled out from the pack of the…

Per-diems are not the answer; they're legitimising the rort in the same way that national's tax cuts legitimised tax cheating.

Oh good grief. I won't dignify that shit about the tax cuts with a response. But the per diem?

Try it. No, really, just try being away from your family…

I like to be in the same category as the brainy Deborah. I always feel like the dumb one here but can't stop contributing!

Hmmm... I've got a fair degree of formal training in a particular area, but that's about it. I like hanging around with all the smart and…

I'd love to know how lassez faire APN is with the corporate plastic. Do share, folks.

Well I work for Newstalk ZB, which is part of TRN, which in turn is half owned by APN.

The procedure for us is that travel and accomodation is generally booked and paid for…

unfashionable around here.

They'd be plenty who read or write here, wont like it.
FWIW, I don't watch any myself because it's a waste of my time,Sometimes I have paused to see what the stuff on Comedy Central is like after Colbert Report, (but it really seems like comedy to…

not you or Deborah

Ah, I like to be in the same category as the brainy Deborah. I always feel like the dumb one here but can't stop contributing!

And I know you weren't really attacking me/us. And I do feel squeamish about pornographic films. There, I've admitted it. Very…

Yes, I guess I do have a puritanical streak

I should point out that when I said "puritanical bullshit" I was referring at the media coverage, not you or Deborah – much as I thought your respective choice of words was worth remarking.

It was Labour that legislated to make homosexuality legal in 1986

Well, if you want to be pedantic about it:

1) National MP Venn Young made the first serious attempt at homosexual law reform in 1974, which was heavily defeated under a Labour government.

2) The Homosexual Law Reform Bill…

Marlboro.

No, not the Marlboro man.
I think that image must arise from my smoking habits of past, so guess that puts you at Peter Stuyvesant. He founded New York y'know? Precious. :)

Craig you really do look like a cigarette butt, no matter the spin. :)

Thanks, Sofie — I hope I don't look like a Preuvian Marlboro. :)

Who would be a politician? Put an occasional personal expense on the business card and you are a front page…

then current Ministers are also going to be embarrassed if the same slant is put on the results.

Oh, wouldn't that be an unspeakable tragedy — pardon me if I don't regard it as some impertinent degradation if our employees occasionally deign to explain what they do, and how. I…

Still think one house should be enough though. :)

Two houses are fine surely. Making it appear like a house you own isn't yours so you can get money paid to you for living in it, less so.

I've completely lost faith in the Wellington half-wits who administer this crap

Never once did a rep get fired for these queries.Never once was one singled out to ostracize.Occasionally some expenses were considered personal and reimbursed.This is how to account.

Too true, I mean how hard can it be? it makes…

They equate JK going to to a strip club before he entered politics with Shane Jones and his mid night habbits and of course not understanding that when you sign for a card that says "not to be used for private consumption" that is what it means

However one could…

They equate JK going to to a strip club before he entered politics with Shane Jones and his mid night habbits and of course not understanding that when you sign for a card that says "not…

You know, I'm starting to think the Herald might actually have a politically-motivated double standard here.

That editorial really annoyed me. Especially this part:

Quite simply, that was the level of gratuity expected in Peru. Equally, the same minister, as part of his official duties, is expected to entertain dignitaries…

Struck by this sentence:

"Those two politicians failed because the country was not ready for such an overhaul."

The country was not ready. I love the implications of this: that dismantling the welfare state…

I haven't checked ... but if it were true that the Australian Government requires foreign ministers in their country to hire limousines, why has no-one else ever done this? Because it seems like the type of thing that would get onto Stuff's rolling update. Is Chris Carter the only…

Is it any good?

Actually, I was cheating, I haven't seen it yet although it's supposed to be quite good. Couldn't be worse than the Spielberg film anyhow.

Coincidentally, I'm in the process of trying to track down an old porno, for actual research purposes (heh!), and I've had to…

Shaving Ryan's Privates

Is it any good?

. Or is that just me being all prissy and petty?

Yep, that's you darlin' ;) Look, I wouldn't buy Bolli either and I am frugal, and some expenses could be addressed , but chasing up these expenses got all items reimbursed. I think that is good accounting and I…

Now is that positive spin? Or did he just have a smile on his face as he wrote it?

Why doesn't he just come out of the closet and say "I'd tap that, but Ruth made me impotent and Shipley brought all my previously repressed Mummy issues to the surface"?…

Trade Minister Tim Groser [...] as part of his official duties, is expected to entertain dignitaries on his many trips overseas.

There should be no surprise that his spending on liquor and food is reasonably substantial.

Likewise, there is nothing out of the norm in Murray McCully spending nearly…

No. Renting a movie is personal. Buying a book or a magazine to read is personal. Going out to a movie theatre is personal.

Yet I suspect you wouldn't have used the term "habit" to describe the renting any other kind of movie. Would I be correct in that assumption?…

She may possess a warmer, more down-to-earth persona than the coolly doctrinaire Richardson and Shipley displayed.

Now is that positive spin? Or did he just have a smile on his face as he wrote it?
Ohhhhh the things my mind can do with the opening "She may…

To suggest imbibing is acceptable then disputing what was imbibed because one may have more expensive tastes is, nitpicking and yes so what if it's Bolli?

Well, Sofie, I'd prefer the "expensive tastes" of our Ministers (and their staff) don't run to two-grand-and-change bottles of Chateau Petrus, or the occasional…

whilst not happening to any others...

Not so. See, this is assumed because certain people have been scrutinised. Depending on travel one could feel unlucky if luggage has been lost thrice, but if you travelled on 300 trips, I'd suggest you are pretty common with the odds.

Was he bored? Is he so clever that politics is too easy for him?

A strong possibility, yes. A never-ending stream of stupidity, mediocrity and ego-wankers is probably enough to send one in search of comfort, be it chocolates, crochetting or blue movies.

For me, this whole beat up is…

If he can't look after himself, how can he fulfil his much talked about potential

Do you have any evidence at all his personal lifestyle impacted on his performance as a minister?

For example, genius (however you define that) often comes at cost somewhere else. Look at Tiger Woods. The…

How smart are his lifestyle choices?

On balance, smarter than Winston Leonard Spenser Churchill's — who was probably an undiagnosed manic-depressive and high-functioning alcoholic his entire adult life; was a chain-smoker with a voracious appetite (which lead to what would now be defined as morbid obesity); there were also persistent…

Lost luggage does require replacing, so undies and suits are also legit.

Of course...

But the version I've heard (and I cant attest to the accuracy) is that it happened to the same minister three times in one year, whilst not happening to any others...

Sure, sometimes you can just…

He analyses Paula Bennett's "inflammatory" comments about opposition to her likely dismantling of our welfare system.

In expressing fears that the debate could turn ugly, Bennett was trying to denigrate…

Thing is, as a nation there is something deeply amiss in our psyche and it is this: the speed with which we move to apportion blame to others, our penchant for punishment and our unwillingness to forgive.

Hear, hear!
Liking your first post Boris. :)

Here we go, the prissy middle class is coming out to play.

No, no, no. I really don't mean that. What I mean is that someone touted as the new leader of Labour and first Maori PM, who is a father of seven and highly intelligent with a Harvard degree…

How smart are his lifestyle choices?

Here we go, the prissy middle class is coming out to play.

I feel a little sorry for the overwhelming majority of previous and current Ministers and their staff who seem to have had no problem separating their personal from public expenditure.

I'm a bit of a Vicky Pollard there. I take your point, and you're right, but the Ministers and staffers…

If they're racking up more than 10,000 per trip on daily expenses, then clearly they have a different idea or 'reasonable expenditure' than I do.

These cards aren't just for ministers. They'll often travel with staff. One card might be paying for three or more people in hotels, meals, some…

Is his life out of control?

Well, he does look a bit tired...
...doesn't he?

More relevantly, she speculates about Jone's career options.

It's too soon to say whether the former Maori business leader will decide to chuck politics and resume a private sector career. He is formidably bright and has…

I suspect HC in particular, and PMs in general, don't stay at the "Havana Nights…

He was a Minister of Building and Construction and after each day's meetings he watched porn movies and…

MPs should not get paid wages but loans, like students, because they get highly paid jobs after they graduate from Westminster as a result of attending Parliament. They should therefore pay…

And we're not allowed per-diems (of course, that is the real answer – just a flat rate per day, spend it how you want, no receipts. But way too sensible... I've completely lost faith in the Wellington half-wits who administer this crap)

Per-diems are not the answer; they're legitimising the…

"Hello sir, Welcome to the Hilton, help yourself to free tea and coffee and don't forget to check out movies of people fucking if you get bored. No one will ever know."

Porn and Men. ...what can I say?Where do I start?

I read somewhere that the average length of time a man watches a hotel room porn movie is 8 minutes. Which makes the charge quite expensive. But hey, even Time Magazine found that watching porn can be an act, not…

Fucking Toblerone.

:))

Just as a matter of interest, how would your academic career look if you'd been caught out dipping into the departmental petty cash...

I'd have been carpetted the first time, and fired the second time. As it turns out, I've never done such things, because just somehow, I seem to…

Well, these are the decision makers – it starts and finishes with them.

Yeah, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Fist full of dollars eh?
Hang em high I say!
Oh wait.. no, that's the Clint Eastwood Film season that is on at the mo, so as you were.…

All I remember is the hell of caligula, oh yeh and ageing Augustus and Tiberius.

Livia. It was all about Livia, surely. Death couldn't stop her.

It was on Monday Nights on TV One. After Dallas.

The same Ministers are creating that bad policy, making those bad decisions and lacking the understanding that is costing us billions, not thousands, now and into the future

A lack of credit card policy knowledge in 2010, I don't sweat it.Who knows how many rules we all blow away everyday…

It's very, very hard to stretch this sentiment far enough to cover porn. Surely no one would ever think that it's okay for the taxpayer to cover her or his porn habit.

What about if he had rented a movie of another genre (he's a "film buff", remember?). Is it…

Just as a matter of interest, how would your academic career look if you'd been caught out dipping into the departmental petty cash to cover your groceries and sundry personal items? And would prompt reimbursement be a mitigating factor?

I believe these people had many other things on their mind as these transactions took place and unless proof can be found that deliberate stealing was involved , the hardcore liberal in me says let's get perspective.

It's very, very hard to stretch this sentiment far enough to cover porn.…

In the case of the foreign trips, that's actually a bloody big call for individual ministerial staff.

When I did this a lot (my girlfriend at the time said if I got any more airpoints I'd qualify for my own 737) we used a travel service that had accounts with…

We have lost thousands of dollars through bad policy, bad decision making and poor economic and social understanding not through minibars.

The same Ministers are creating that bad policy, making those bad decisions and lacking the understanding that is costing us billions, not thousands, now and into the future. Whether…

They do heaps of shit and then at the end of the day, not every day, after doing what we pay them for, some travelling ministers have screwed the card system up.

I believe…

You might be right Craig but if what Ririrui was doing, was not following procedures why wouldn't there have been an "Oi! Thats wrong mate!" or to Jim Anderton for that matter? Different time. Less clear rules perhaps?

Honestly and more than a little cynically: I don't think so. Let…

They're probably a bit worried they may have created a rod for their own back.

By passing the Official Information Act in 1982? I'm not sure we can blame Key for that.

Chris Carter challenged her to check with Ministerial Services since he was operating on their instructions. As far…

Sounds OK to me Craig.

If I was a Labour Party spin doctor, I'd be getting a little nervous about the increasingly strong denials from Ministerial Services they've giving any such advice to anyone. OK, nobody at MS is going to come out and say "bitch, please" but it's not…

Have any of the people who've mentioned Chris Carter's limousine hire today bothered to check his apparently reasonable explanation?

Katerine was told that this morning. Chris Carter challenged her to check with Ministerial Services since he was operating on their instructions. As far as I know, no one has…