Peters hotly resists new office block
‘‘Before anyone starts screaming about the need for more space let’s take a look at how bloated the system now is.’’ NZ First leader Winston Peters
NZ First has broken ranks to oppose a new building for MPS and Parliamentary staff.
Leader Winston Peters said yesterday that claims Opposition parties backed the plan were ‘‘simply not true’’.
Peters said NZ First made it ‘‘very clear’ when approached that it would not sign up to the project.
The Government is expected to sign off on a major revamp of the parliamentary precinct before the end of the year, including the option of a new office block to accommodate those currently in the 22-storey Bowen House on the corner of Bowen St and Lambton Quay.
The Bowen House lease expires at the end of 2018 and while a renewal is one of the options, Parliament’s Speaker David Carter said it was very expensive at an annual cost closer to $6 million than $5m, and was leased from a foreign company.
A cost for the new premises has not been given but it will be tens of millions of dollars.
Peters said MPS should not be ‘‘considering their own comforts’’ at a time when 40,000 people were homeless, and young people struggled to find a home.
‘‘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.’’
Peters also blasted the breach of confidentiality. He said NZ First met Parliamentary Services regarding the proposal in October last year.
‘‘In December we had a follow up meeting with the Speaker David Carter and Leader of the House Gerry Brownlee.
‘‘Those 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.’’
Peters said the Government had made a series of decision-making blunders about the Parliamentary precinct including its failure to use the former Parliament building, the largest wooden building in the southern hemisphere, now a law school.
A former National government had also privatised the ownership of Bowen House in 1998, ‘‘which has come back to bite this Government’’.
‘‘Now the Speaker says Parliament should own its own premises,’’ Peters said.
‘‘So it seems that the Speaker has had an 11th hour epiphany.’’