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Embroiled in a scandal about travel perks for its members of Parliament (MPs), New Zealand has scrapped these taxpayer-funded advantages for its politicians. This move follows a row that saw the country's first ethnically Asian MP, Pansy Wong, quit as a minister over a trip to China, and the prime minister called the resignation "very disappointing." Parliamentary speaker Lockwood Smith said politicians from all parties had agreed to changing the scheme, which gave long-serving MPs subsidies of up to 90 percent on their travel. "It would be fair to say I had formed a view some days ago that change was inevitable," Smith said late Wednesday after a meeting to discuss the fallout of the Wong affair, which had drawn the public toward MP perks. Shanghai-born Wong, who held the ethnic affairs and women's affairs portfolios, quit the cabinet last Friday following revelations that her husband had used a 2008 state-funded trip to China for private business purposes. Talking to NewstalkZB ealier this week, Prime Minister John Key said he had no choice but to accept Wong's resignation from Cabinet. "It's very disappointing because she's been hard working, I think she's done a tremendous job with the ethnic communities," he said. Wong, 55, was raised in Hong Kong and moved to New Zealand in 1974. She worked as a chartered accountant and financial controller before becoming the country's first Asian member of Parliament in 1996. Smith also said Wednesday that a new travel scheme would be soon introduced with stricter rules. Agencies |
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