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The Parliamentary Service, the organization that looks after the functioning of Parliament and MP’s offices, said it will analyze whether a sublease agreement involving the Labor Party’s Petone electorate office is valid and whether conflicts of interest have been declared. appropriate.
At a select committee meeting Wednesday morning, Rafael González-Montero, executive director of the Parliamentary Service, said the two would investigate whether the electorate’s agreement was within parliamentary rules and whether appropriate conflicts of interest were declared. He said that so far, he was happy that everything was correct.
The deal, revealed after an investigation by Things Last year, it involved the local Labor Party raking in $ 4,500 a year in profits thanks to a sublease agreement. Labor rents its offices to the building’s owner, the Professional Firefighters Union of New Zealand for $ 1,500, then subleases that office space to the local MP for $ 6,000.
That $ 6,000 bill is collected by the Parliamentary Service, which pays the rent for the parliamentarians’ offices with taxpayer funds. The $ 4,500 difference between the rent charged by the firefighters and what the Parliamentary Service pays is a profit for the Labor Party.
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The arrangement has been unfolding in some form since the 1990s, although the precise sums of money in question have likely changed during that time. It only came to light after Things obtained accounts showing how the arrangement worked in 2019.
The office is the home of current Hutt South MP Ginny Andersen. Before her, it housed former Hutt South Labor MP Trevor Mallard, who is now president.
During Wednesday’s meeting, National Roster MP Chris Bishop, who lost the Hutt South seat to Andersen in the 2020 election, asked if the arrangement met the rigors set out in the President’s Instructions.
Those instructions warn that services charged to the parliamentary service should be used “for parliamentary purposes only.”
“We investigated that and as far as we are concerned, we were doing the right thing,” González-Montero said.
MATTHEW TSO
Labor benefits of a rental agreement related to your Petone office.
But after more questioning, González-Montero said he would re-investigate the matter.
Bishop was particularly concerned that he violated the rules that such rights and services were used for parliamentary purposes, as specified in the President’s Instructions.
González-Montero said that as far as he knew, the deal complied with the rules, although he also said he did not know what happened to the money after it was turned over to pay the rent.
“We don’t know what happens with that funding,” he said.
He said he would look at the rules and bring an answer to the select committee.
Another speaker’s address requires parliamentarians to disclose whether the goods and services were being procured by a “related party,” as this could be a potential conflict of interest. The rules specify that such a related party could be the MP’s political party.
Parliament will search its records to find out if a statement was made.
“I was informed that this arrangement is approximately 20 years old, so if it was [disclosed]It was done back then, but we can verify the records for you, ”González-Montero said.
Mallard said he made the connection to Labor clear when he presented the lease with Parliamentary Services.
”I submitted the rental agreement with Parliamentary Services twice. I made it clear the two times that I rented the office to the Labor Party, ”he said.
The mistake has caught the ire of multiple agencies. The Parliamentary Service has previously commented that it is happy with the deal and said it is good value for money, however it has not previously commented on whether the deal violates parliamentary rules on conflicts of interest.
The Electoral Commission has also been forced to intervene. It investigated last year whether the below-market rent charged to the Labor Party should qualify as an effective donation. He clarified to Andersen, that he was not the local MP during the time under investigation. However, he said the local Labor Party must now declare the low rent as a donation.
