events

Hi guys type anything you have been doing in here! Hi Kate(it's rachel, again) Sorry for using up most of the room on the page. But, yesterday, Muffin caught another bird! Today, at gymnastics, i learnt a new mat routine, that is really fun How fun!kATE

Guys dont get too excited, The characters in the HMS play are rubbish, Dont take it too seriously though...

[|National] [|RSS] [|Email] Print =Bill English to pay back part of allowance [|Doc]= Page 1 of 2 [|View as a single page] **2:20PM** Wednesday Aug 05, 2009 By [|Audrey Young]

Bill English has lived in this Wellington house with his family for two years. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Your Views Should the MP accommodation allowance be lowered if they are making money from it?
 * [|Audio] [|English decides to pay money back]
 * [|Video] [|Labour needle English on spending cuts]
 * [|Video] [|PM launches ministerial housing review]
 * [|Doc] [|Ministerial housing costs (PDF)]
 * [|**Send us Your Views**]
 * [|**Read Your Views**]

Related links: Deputy Prime Minister Bill English has decided to pay back part of his ministerial housing allowance to Ministerial Services, saying that as Finance Minister he had to lead by example. He will receive an accommodation allowance on the same basis as out of town MPs who live in Wellington. "I understand that this does not look good," he told reporters on the way into Parliament. On the basis of what he has received so far, that means he will be paying back about $12,000 of the nearly $24,000 he has received in the past six months. It was not any acknowledgment that he had done something wrong. "The fact is that no amount of detail will change the perception that in some way I am gaining a bigger allowance than other members of Parliament. "So I have decided to deal with that perception. I'm a minister of Finance. It is my job to lead by example so I will be getting in touch with Ministerial Services to pay back the difference between the rate I am on and the other rate going back to the election."
 * [|**Register for Your Views**]
 * [|Editorial: PM right to act fast on rental perks]
 * [|A plague on both their houses]
 * [|English gets more than Labour equivalent got - Goff]
 * [|Ministers welcome housing allowance review]
 * [|Ministers may be asked to cough up for official homes]
 * [|Rule change lets English claim more]

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Mr English has been at the centre of the housing allowance storm since it was revealed he was being paid about $900 a week to live in his own family home in Wellington. That is almost double the amount ordinary out-of-town MPs can claim on Wellington accommodaiton. While it was well within the rules for Mr English to claim the new amount when he became a minister, his housing circumstances had not changed, he had had a hefty pay increase, and he is preaching restraint to the rest of the country. Mr English and his wife and six children have lived there for about two years and it is owned by a family trust. Before qualifying for the ministerial allowance it was deemed an official ministerial residence and leased by the Government and provided back to the Mr English. He said it did not look good and no matter what the technicalities were, "that is not a sustainable position." Two other ministers, David Carter and Pita Sharples, are staying in their own Wellington flats and are limited to $24,000 a year or $460 a week. Other ministers are housed in Government-owned property or in apartments paid for by Ministerial Services in the Department of Internal Affairs and the guideline for their rent is about $700 to $750 a week. No one else is in the same situation as Mr English. Mr English said his decision to pay back the money did not set a precedent for other ministers. "I am in a unique situation." He said he had not spoken about it with Prime Minister John Key, who is in Cairns. Meanwhile, the review into ministers' accommodation expenses will be complete by the end of the month.