Kaye Nikki: Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Services) Bill — First Reading 
Kaye Nikki: Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Services) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:678;Page:1411] 
NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) 
: 
 I am pleased to speak on the Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Services) Bill. I think this legislation is about public confidence in both Parliament and politicians. I want to reflect on two incidents that happened recently. I recently spoke to the Waiheke rotary club and one of the comments that was made at the rotary club was that they saw it as a positive thing that members of Parliament had moved from being the least trusted profession up one from 26 to 25. I think that probably shows how long and how far we have to go.  
I want to make a couple of comments generally about the UK expenses scandal. Even though you see surveys such as the one I have just mentioned that show that although we might be going in the right direction we still have a way to go that was a very damaging thing for the institutions in the United Kingdom. I have previously worked in Government over there and that was a scandal that saw public confidence in politicians over there drop significantly. I am very pleased to be supporting this legislation which is aimed at giving greater transparency around the remuneration of members of Parliament.  
I also want to reflect on the fact that I think New Zealand generally does have a pretty proud history of being an open democracy. We were a country that led the world in terms of the Official Information Act and I think we should be very proud of that. I think that as we are a smaller nation we are generally as politicians probably a little bit more accountable because we get around our constituencies and people know us well. But we can always do better. With the advent of social media in terms of Facebook and Twitter you get real-time updates of what members of Parliament are doing and I think that is helping in terms of the accountability and transparency of politicians. 
But if we actually look at the genesis of this legislation it was the Law Commission report in 2010. I think that in terms of the other genesis and drive for this bill I know the Green Party has been trying to take some of the credit but actually I want to give a little bit of credit to the leadership of this Parliament and in particular the Prime Minister the Speaker and members on both sides of the House who have driven greater disclosure particularly around expenses. Obviously that has been a voluntary regime so far but we are now going to put that into legislation.  
I think we have seen a gradual opening up of expenses. We saw in 1999 as well that MPs who came into Parliament after 1999 do not get travel perks. So there has been a gradual move to have greater transparency and accountability. I cannot stress enough how important that is. I knocked on 10000 doors and I can tell you that I think that generally New Zealanders do think we work quite hard. But there are some issues around that transparency and accountability and having very clear and open information about how MPs are remunerated.  
If you look at the key changes in this legislation we have seen—as many members of Parliament have already mentioned—the “Chris Carter clause”. That clause brings a significant change in that a fine of $10 per day is now I think about $270 per day. What that is saying to New Zealanders is that it is not OK to not turn up to Parliament and that actually you should be fined significantly for that. That is an important message to other New Zealanders who are working very hard.  
There are a number of other changes within the bill in terms of ensuring that former MPs who served before 1999 and their spouses will continue to receive various travel rebates. Some of this is about clarifying what is already happening. I think it is very important that we are going to see a statutory requirement around the disclosure regime for MPs’ travel and accommodation.  
I just want to touch on a couple of points that have already been mentioned. Do I think that this bill will solve issues of some members of the public thinking that MPs are paid too much? No I do not. Do I think it will solve some issues of members of Parliament across the House claiming that people are using their entitlements for incorrect purposes? No I do not. But what I do think this will do is give independence to our remuneration by having it dealt with by a separate body. It also gives greater transparency.  
So I just want to congratulate all members of Parliament. I want to congratulate the Prime Minister who I think has led a bit of a charge on this. I want to congratulate all members across the House on supporting this bill’s referral to the Government Administration Committee because I think it is a very important piece of legislation that cuts to the heart of public confidence in Parliament and politicians. Thank you.