Govt ordered to reveal limo use
The Government has lost a threeyear fight to keep details of ministers’ use of Crown limousines secret.
The Ombudsman has ordered that the information be released and, barring a Cabinet-ordered veto, the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) is set to make public details of thousands of trips by John Key and his ministerial colleagues in the fleet of taxpayer-funded luxury BMWs.
The recommendations of Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier, a former judge, are likely to mean details of future use will also have to be revealed. The information will be presented in the coming weeks without precise locations, for privacy and security reasons.
Government ministers have a virtual carte blanche right to use the chauffeur-driven silver BMWs, which would cost private buyers about $200,000 each. The exact cost of the cars to the Crown has not been disclosed.
While ministers use the cars for hundreds of trips – some as long as 700 kilometres – there is nothing to stop them being used to run general errands. DIA has so far refused to release details of 1km or less trips.
The fact that ministers use the cars for personal reasons was one of the arguments it put forward for keeping the information secret, attempting to convince Boshier that this meant it might not qualify as official information.
However, Boshier said the information was ‘‘plainly’’ official, was readily available, and should be made public.
‘‘It cannot be a principled approach to withhold details of publicly funded travel merely because such travel was outside the scope of strict ministerial duties,’’ he wrote in his official decision.
‘‘On the contrary, I consider that the public interest in disclosure is enhanced where transport funded by the public purse is utilised for non-official matters.’’
Boshier’s recommendation comes more than 1100 days after the matter was referred to the Office of the Ombudsman, which rules on requests made to public bodies under the Official Information Act.
Over three years, the DIA has given a series of reasons for withholding the information.
Key’s office declined to say whether ministers had attempted to influence the DIA’s stance on releasing the information, claiming the prime minister ‘‘favours the release of Crown expenses where possible’’.
Andrew McConnell, DIA’s manager of ministerial and secretariat services, said he did not know whether any ministers had tried to influence the department on the release.
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said the obligation on ministers to be up front about their spending was ‘‘absolute’’.