Finlayson Christopher: Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Services) Bill — First Reading 
Finlayson Christopher: Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Services) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:678;Page:1403] 
Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations) 
 on behalf of the Prime Minister: I move  
That the Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Services) Bill be now read a first time. 
 I nominate the Government Administration Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the committee report to the House on or before 31 August 2012. This bill proposes a new framework for setting entitlements for MPs and members of the executive. The current framework is governed by Parts 3 and 4 of the Civil List Act 1979. It has been criticised as lacking clarity transparency and independence. In 2010 the Law Commission recommended that those provisions of the Civil List Act should be repealed and replaced by a new statute. In response to the commission’s recommendations the Government introduced this bill on 5 October 2011.  
The key purpose of the bill is to establish a system for determining the services to be provided to elected members. It recognises the need for members to be properly supported but also maintains confidence in the integrity of Parliament. The entitlements that have the most potential for personal benefit and have caused the most public concern in the past are travel and accommodation services. The changes introduced in this bill will improve the independence of the determination of those services.  
The main feature of the bill is the creation of a new framework for the determination of these entitlements for MPs and Ministers. Until now those entitlements have been determined by the Speaker and the Minister responsible for Ministerial Services. Under the new framework introduced by this bill in the future most travel and accommodation entitlements of MPs will be set by an independent body made up of members of the Remuneration Authority plus an additional member with the appropriate knowledge skills and experience to assist them in this task. The authority will also determine domestic travel and accommodation services for members of the executive.  
The cost of international travel accommodation and associated costs for members of the executive on ministerial business will be met by the Department of Internal Affairs on the basis of approvals by Cabinet or the Prime Minister or the Minister with responsibility for Ministerial Services and will no longer be the subject of a determination.  
The current voluntary disclosure regime for MPs’ travel expenses has been widely welcomed as improving transparency. The bill builds on this initiative requiring quarterly disclosure of MPs’ travel and accommodation expenses. The Speaker will continue to be responsible for issuing directions and setting out the allocation and administration of party and member support funding and the administrative and support services to be provided to MPs parties and qualifying electoral candidates. The Speaker will also continue to issue directions in relation to communication services for MPs and will determine services for MPs participating in the official inter-parliamentary relations programme.  
The existing scheme for MPs’ and Ministers’ entitlements has been described as complicated and confusing. The bill sets out the powers of the authority and the Speaker to determine entitlements to services or issue directions in one single statute. The bill requires them to have regard to the same overarching criteria and principles in exercising their powers and this is going to reduce the legislative complexity and fragmentation that has dogged the present system.  
The bill also changes the provisions relating to salary deductions where an MP is absent from the House for long periods without good cause. Under the Civil List Act 1979 only $10 per day can be deducted from an MP’s salary in such situations. The bill provides for a much more significant deduction where an MP is absent for more than 9 days other than in accordance with the rules of the House. In rare circumstances where non-attendance becomes an issue this provides a much more meaningful and effective way of addressing the problem than is allowed by the current law.  
The bill also includes changes relating to rules around entitlements for former MPs who were elected before the 1999 general election. At the moment those former MPs and their spouses are entitled to rebates on a limited number of domestic and international airfares and have certain road rail and ferry travel entitlements. The recipients of those benefits are a closed class. The amount currently spent on former MPs’ travel is about $1.3 million per annum. The Law Commission recommended that these entitlements should be set out in legislation rather than in Speakers’ directions to ensure that they cannot be extended or increased except by legislative amendment. The bill implements this recommendation. In the interests of improved transparency the bill also requires the total expenses incurred to provide those entitlements in respect of each former member to be disclosed annually.  
The bill continues the present position under which the Remuneration Authority determines annuities for former Prime Ministers and their spouses. It removes certain outdated restrictions on the availability of the annuity paid to the surviving spouses or partners of former Prime Ministers. Compared with the present regime the annuity will continue to be available if a surviving spouse or partner remarries or enters a new relationship.  
The bill also makes changes to how travel entitlements provided to former Prime Ministers are determined. The bill provides that the decision as to what travel entitlements should be made available to future former Prime Ministers and their spouses or partners will be a matter for determination by the independent authority.  
So overall the bill represents a significant improvement in modernising the law relating to elected members’ remuneration and entitlements to services and in ensuring that such entitlements are independently set and are transparent. I extend my thanks to the Law Commission for the work it has done on this matter. I look forward to the bill receiving careful and detailed consideration by both the select committee and the House. A bill of this nature covering as it does the means to ensure that elected members are provided with the services that they require to enable them to carry out their roles and functions efficiently and effectively deserves nothing less.