MP expense information leaked to the Taxpayers’ Union – will be made public tomorrow

The Taxpayers’ Union has been leaked five years of MPs expense information up to early 2021 following a public request for data on how taxpayers’ money is being spent, reportedly available to alleged Chinese-backed hackers, but not to New Zealanders.
 
“We don’t know who used a secure channel to anonymously provide us with this data, but it appears to be legitimate,” says a Taxpayers’ Union spokesman, Jordan Williams.  “As far as we can see there is no information that has national security implications, but it will certainly have political ones.”

“Although many of those individuals this data relates to are no longer MPs, questions will no doubt be asked. Home entertainment systems, leather recliner furniture, $1000 Apple Airpod Max, animal houses, movie rentals – the similarities with the UK expenses scandal are chilling. It demonstrates that self-interested spending thrives where there is no sunshine.”
 
“MPs have voted themselves special protections from transparency laws. They spend our money on themselves and their offices, but unlike nearly all other parts of government, those picking up the tab haven’t been able to see where it is going. That’s about to change.”
 
“It is a disgrace that this information has come to us from an anonymous source, rather than through legal channels. This is similar to the UK, where similar information was leaked to The Daily Telegraph and The TaxPayers' Alliance."

"Clearly the law will need to change going forward so that we can be assured this isn’t still going on.”
 
The 2.3gigabytes of information is made up of spreadsheets, PDFs of invoices, and expense claims. The Taxpayers' Union will make public the information tomorrow at midday, at expense-scandal.nz. A media conference will be held at the same time on the steps of the Chinese Embassy in Wellington.
 
Until that time, no further comment will be made as our staff and volunteers work through the information, prepare it for public release, and build the website to host the cache of information.