Politics Live Blog - June 10-16
Ate Mārie
We start the week with the story of an MP who lives just 58km from Parliament and is claiming $36,400 a year housing allowance for his Wellington accommodation - which he happens to own.
We start the week with the story of an MP who lives just 58km from Parliament and is claiming $36,400 a year housing allowance for his Wellington accommodation - which he happens to own.
Kāpiti-based MP rents back his Wellington flat at taxpayers' expense
A National MP is claiming a $36,400-a-year housing allowance for his own apartment — despite living just 58km from Parliament, writes The Post and Sunday Star-Times National Affairs Editor Andrea Vance.
Ōtaki MP Tim Costley owns a $1.4 million riverside home in Waikanae, two rental properties in Palmerston North, and a Wellington flat. He claims the taxpayer-funded perk for the capital property, where he stays during the weeks Parliament is sitting.
MPs are entitled to claim $36,400 a year if their main residence is “outside the Wellington commuting area.”. But the rules don’t specify a minimum distance.
Read more at https://www.thepost.co.nz/politics/350304610/kapiti-based-mp-rents-back-his-wellington-flat-taxpayers-expense
Tim Costley lives within commuting distance of Parliament. WARWICK SMITH/MANAWATU STANDARD