Turei Metiria: Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Services) Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTurei Metiria: Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Services) Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 12 November 2013. Volume:694;Page:14570. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green): I just want to refer briefly to the Supplementary Order Paper 369 in my name. It recommends an amendment to clause 4 in Part 1. Clause 4 is just a descriptive clause. It just describes what the rest of the Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Services) Bill does. So it is not a substantive clause in that sense but we have made amendments to this clause as well as to the substantive ones in later parts. The overall thrust of the Supplementary Order Paper that we have for this part and for later parts of this bill is to re-include MPs’ travel as one of the matters that the Remuneration Authority will determine.It was part of the original bill. The original bill that came into Parliament included that accommodation allowances and all travel services of MPs would be determined by the Remuneration Authority. Actually the Green Party has supported that proposal for a very long time but it also came from the Law Commission in its review of MPs’ expenses and allowances. It also came from the Appropriation Review Committee’s report which is the only financial analysis if you like of Parliamentary Service’s spending and it is done once every 3 years. A previous appropriations review also recommended these kinds of changes. The principle behind it is that there should be an independent authority that makes these decisions on behalf of MPs so that there is a separation between the benefit that we receive individually and the decision on that.I do agree with the Hon Ruth Dyson and others that the travel services for example are extremely important to us. We simply cannot do our jobs without them. They are as crucial a tool for our work as standing here and speaking as crucial a tool as our phones—as every MP who is chained to their telephone can tell you. Yes travel services are a crucial tool but they are also under the current system something that allows MPs to use that tool for private purposes as well as parliamentary purposes. The current travel entitlement means that as the rules have been set by our own people by our own institution MPs can use that travel entitlement to come to work and do our business but also to go away on holiday somewhere in New Zealand if we want to. So there is a personal benefit to the travel allowances.The value of that benefit has been taken into account by the Remuneration Authority and the authority has changed its view of what MPs should be paid to reflect thepersonal benefit that it believes is provided through the travel allowance. That is one way of dealing with it but it is not the most transparent way. It is not best the way I believe that the public would like to see these kinds of allowances being dealt with. We are firmly of the view that an independent authority ought to be making these decisions and that it will then be able to assess both the needs of MPs to be able to travel to do our jobs and the needs of the public who look to our system and seek from it the best possible transparency so that they can have the greatest confidence that we are using public money wisely.This is all within a highly politicised context. MPs live in this deeply politicised environment where political attacks come from all over the place. We are right now in the middle of some very significant public scrutiny over pecuniary interests and I am sure that there will be more of this scrutiny over housing allowances—all of these things. We do not operate outside of an intense political environment but this is why yet again it is so important to have these decisions being made not by our own institution but by an independent one. We would like the members of the Committee to give serious consideration to supporting our Supplementary Order Paper that proposes returning to the original proposal—which is to have the Remuneration Authority also determine our travel allowances—on the basis that the best principled basis is to have an independent agency make these decisions on our behalf.I guess we can see why that is so important at the moment with the scrutiny over the use of housing allowances superannuation funds and other trusts that are currently in the media and there is apparently more to come. I am very pleased that the housing allowance part of the MPs expenses is being moved to the Remuneration Authority through this bill because that is one important step. But the scrutiny on MPs will not end until there is a genuine truly transparent and independent process for setting allowances.Although it is really good that we are making steps towards increased transparency and independence and although certainly the Greens will be supporting this legislation because it does make some important steps in that regard we can do better and we should. We should trust the public to view us and our work in the best light. It does not always feel like that sometimes but it is certainly true as I have travelled around the country speaking on issues around MPs’ expenses and allowances that the majority of New Zealanders understand that we need resources to do our job and that we do an important job and they would like to see us do that job well. But the quid pro quo is that we are open and transparent and we give more than just a vague nod to the independence of deciding around these things. As I say I urge members to support this Supplementary Order Paper and the changes to this part and to future parts and look forward to further debate. Thank you.