Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he will not take the $52,000 accommodation supplement after all, as it had become a “distraction”.
On Friday morning, Newsroom reported that he would take the optional payment, on top of his $471,000 base salary, despite owning a near $1 million apartment mortgage free.
That would have made Luxon the first Prime Minister to collect the payment in over three decades, as previous leaders either lived at Premier House or were already based in Wellington.
Since he does not have any direct housing costs to subsidise, the extra $52,000 would have effectively been added to his personal income.
The Prime Minister called into Newstalk ZB at 5pm to reverse his decision, just hours after defending it during a press conference in Queenstown.
One reporter had asked Luxon what he would use the money for since he was not paying any rent. Luxon did not answer directly.
“It's just an entitlement, there will be many MPs and Ministers in the same situation, I suspect, but the bottom line is that's the situation I am in,” he said.
The coalition Government has been touting its plans to rout out wasteful spending and asking public sector agencies to find cost savings anywhere it can.
Luxon did not agree that it was hypocritical to take the accommodation supplement, that he did not need for housing costs, while seeking to cut spending elsewhere.
In the Queenstown press conference, he said his Government was focused on making sure New Zealand’s public sector had a “culture of fiscal discipline”.
“To make sure we are actually not wasting money on wasteful projects which we are seeing no return for,” he said.
Luxon said all non-Wellington based members of Parliament had the right to take an accommodation supplement and many did.
Regardless, he was eager to move into the official residence Premier House but not until significant maintenance had been carried out on the historic building.
“As Prime Minister it would be awesome to be in Premier House, it's probably not great that we have a place that has maintenance issues,” he said.
Luxon said there had been a report provided to former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins about maintenance and repair issues, which the new Government was working through.
“I think New Zealanders would like us to keep Premier House, the alternative is that we sell it or do something else with it, I think they want us to keep it”.
“But for that to happen, with a hundred year old house, you need to maintain a regular programme of maintenance and repairs”.
He said the Government would find a way to make that happen at the lowest possible cost.
The $52,000 supplement—which works out at $1000 per week—is 8% more than a minimum wage worker would earn working full time.
The Prime Minister said he will repay the first instalment, of roughly $13,000, which was paid into a bank account only this week and not collect the subsidy going forward.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.