Taxpayers to foot bill for lawsuit defence

WELLINGTON: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her deputy Winston Peters are refusing to answer questions about how much taxpayers might ultimately have to pay for Mr Peters’ legal pursuit of National Party MPs over his superannuation privacy leak.

But it was revealed yesterday Cabinet agreed in February to pay the estimated $20,000 bill for the former ministers being sued by Mr Peters.

They had been told about his superannuation overpayment under the ‘‘no surprises’’ policy and Mr Peters blames them for leaking it to the media.

In November, National’s chief of staff wrote to the Speaker asking if legal costs could be funded out of the party’s leadership fund.

That request was declined on the grounds the former ministers would not have had access to the information if they had not been ministers.

Mr Peters yesterday refused to respond to any questions about the matter.

‘‘It’s subjudice and I can’t make any comment about it . . . Do you know what subjudice means?’’

Ms Ardern would not say whether costs are going to climb as her deputy continues to pursue former ministers Paula Bennett and Anne Tolley.

‘‘Those are hypothetical questions and those are also matters before the court so I won’t comment,’’ she said. — RNZ