Wednesday, 12 June 2024 16:55

Rural travel

Written by Milking It

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OPINION: It seems ‘rural travel’ is getting very expensive these days.

Milking It notes that Rawiri Waititi, chief co-agitator for Te Pati Maori, has done us all a favour by highlighting this overlooked fact: His Q1 travel expenses of $31,653 were the highest for MPs (excluding Ministers).

A spokesperson says Waititi lives in a rural area some 250km from the closest airport in Rotorua.

All the same, that doesn’t explain his air travel costs last year.

In 2023, he incurred $59,847 on air travel and $43,262 on surface travel costs - a total of $103,109.

David Seymour incurred $31,706 on air travel and $15,184 on surface travel - a grand total of $46,890 or 45% of Waititi’s costs.

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