Former NZ ministers caught by credit card spending
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="smallBlueText">Jun, 10, 2010 02:10 AM - Associated Press</td> <td>
WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Former New Zealand government ministers used their official credit cards to buy pornographic movies, Bollinger champagne, flowers for a romantic partner and even an airplane charter, official records showed Thursday. The first public viewing of more than 7,000 pages of credit card expenses booked by former Labour government ministers between 2003 and 2008 revealed hundreds of purchases outside the rules.
Former Labour housing minister Shane Jones admitted using his ministerial credit card to pay for "adult movies," blaming it on being red-blooded. "I'm a red-blooded adult," he told reporters. "It shouldn't have happened, it has happened, it doesn't make me feel particularly worthy _ but I'm not going to hide from it." He admitted spending thousands on personal items and called his actions an "egregious lapse." "It was wrong," he said, adding that he had apologized profusely.
He had reimbursed 6,450 New Zealand dollars ($4,350) of personal spending on his ministerial card, including the cost of an airplane charter to take him to a function, before his party lost office in November 2008. Jones faces censure by Labour lawmakers next week, as well as public censure, but does not face further sanctions after paying back the cash. Last year, British lawmakers incited public outrage after records showed they had charged taxpayers millions of dollars for things such as a swimming pool, home repairs and even a moat cleaning.
The New Zealand ministers' spending was mostly on fine dining, fine wine, clothing and, in one case, a set of golf clubs while on an official trip. Former minister Chris Carter bought flowers for his partner's birthday on his ministerial card. Former Maori Affairs minister Parekura Horomia spent NZ$500 on one meal at a Chinese restaurant and former Arts Minister Judith Tizard bought a NZ$155 bottle of Bollinger with taxpayer cash. Labour deputy leader Annette King labeled some of the rule breaches "unacceptable."
"It's not for me to judge what people do in the privacy of their rooms, but it's not appropriate to use a ministerial credit card to pay for it," she told reporters. It is not only the Labour party that is guilty of misuing government credit cards. Government Trade Minister Tim Groser of the National Party has charged alcohol purchases of at least NZ$1,470 against taxpayer-funded credit cards since he became a minister 18 months ago.
Groser, also the minister for climate change negotiations, was subject to censure from the prime minister's office in May after a complaint by a member of the public about heavy drinking among his trade delegation on a flight from the Middle East. Housing Minister Phil Healthy was fired earlier this year for inappropriately charging wine to his official credit card, but reinstated after the Audit Office found he did not intentionally break the rules. Prime Minister John Key said this first detailed review of expenses spending had set "a new level of transparency in this government."
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