REVEALED: Farewell bash for Winston Peters cost taxpayers $12,000

The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that former Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters was thrown an $11,733 farewell party by the new Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta and her Ministry. 

The bill covered catering, event furniture hire, and technical costs. Guests included the Prime Minister, other Ministers, diplomats, and their spouses. The Taxpayers’ Union understands that, despite Parliamentary protocol requiring invitations to all Parliamentary Parties for events held at Parliament, no opposition MPs were invited - not even one.

Nanaia Mahuta needs explain why she thought it was a good idea to spend $12,000 of our money on party for a politician who has already enjoyed a lifetime of largesse.

We can think of no other instance where an MP that has failed to be re-elected has had a party thrown for him by his successor. When we asked MFAT how much the department spent, they tried to ease the blow by saying that they had only covered 50 percent of the bill. It wasn’t until after further prodding that they revealed the rest of the spending came from their new Minister!

Considering venue hire was free, that's a hell of a lot of good food and top shelf grog.

Many taxpayers could think of far better uses of $12,000 than a party thrown for a politician, by politicians.