Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
14 SEPTEMBER 2016

No New Parliamentary Building for Us

Claims that Opposition parties are keen on a new parliamentary building are simply not true, says New Zealand First.

“We are also concerned that the confidentiality of meetings about the parliamentary precinct has been broken,” says New Zealand First Leader and Northland MP Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“New Zealand First was approached to sign up to National’s project for a new building to replace Bowen House. We made it very clear we would not.

“In October last year New Zealand First met Parliamentary Services. In December we had a follow-up meeting with the Speaker David Carter and Leader of the House Gerry Brownlee.

“These meetings were on a confidential basis. However, that confidentiality has been broken by statements in the media that Opposition parties are keen on the new building, which we are not.”

“The National Party has made a series of decision making blunders about the parliamentary precinct:

• Not using the largest wooden building in the Southern Hemisphere for a parliamentary purpose (the Victoria University law school)

• Privatising the ownership of Bowen House, which has come back to bite this government.

“Now the Speaker says ‘Parliament should own its own premises’.

“That is not what his party was saying in October 1998 when it set out to privatise the ownership of Bowen House.

“So it seems that the Speaker has had an 11th hour epiphany.

“The same goes for other parliamentarians who want out of leasing Bowen House, which costs the taxpayer nearly $6 million a year. As usual the taxpayer is being hit hard by the decision of National to sell state assets.

“However, at a time when there are well over 40,000 Kiwis homeless, and young Kiwis struggling to buy a home, it ill behoves parliamentarians to consider their own comforts.

“The fact is we don’t need 120 parliamentarians, 100 would be sufficient, at which time we would have plenty of room.

“Former Prime Minister Keith Holyoake used to have five people in his office - Prime Minister John Key has 55. Before anyone starts screaming about the need for more space let’s take a look at how bloated the system now is,” says Mr Peters.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/84202502/speaker-backs-new-office-block-parliament-should-own-its-own-premises

ENDS

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