If the CCP can see politicians' expenses, so should taxpayers

Responding to reports of a cyberattack on the Parliamentary Counsel Office and Parliamentary Service by an organisation with links to the Chinese Government, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said:

“It’s a sad day when overseas hackers know more about how taxpayers’ money is being spent than taxpayers themselves.

“Currently, there is a strange carve-out in our official information laws that excludes politicians from the transparency and accountability that they rightly expect of all government organisations and local councils.

“Overseas scandals such as the one in the UK where MPs were found to be abusing and misusing their spending entitlements on things such as moat cleaning and duck islands for their personal homes, along with Ministerial expense scandals here in NZ highlight the need for transparency in how politicians spend their money.

“We shouldn’t need a scandal before politicians open up their spending habits to some much needed sunlight. MPs should get ahead of this latest hack and expand our official information laws to include their own expenses within our official information laws.”