Auditor-General's Report On Parliamentary Allowances On Right Track
United Future leader, Hon Peter Dunne, has welcomed today's report by the Auditor-General on Parliamentary Allowances,
although he says it falls short of offering a real solution.
"There is only one real answer to how there is proper accountability in this area, and that is through bulk-funding of
MPs' entitlements, and I am disappointed the Auditor-General has not gone down that path," he says.
Mr Dunne says bulk-funding would be much fairer for MPs and would be more transparent to the public.
"It would make MPs more accountable, and would provide for great public scrutiny."
"However, the major parties oppose it for precisely those reasons."
"The last thing they want is individual MPs having more power and responsibility at the expense of the Caucus monolith,
so bulk-funding will not be implemented, and the seed sown by the Auditor-General notwithstanding, the system of
Parliamentary Allowances will continue to remain murky," Mr Dunne says.
Ends