National MP Claudette Hauiti, previously warned about breaking Parliament’s rules by employing her civil union spouse (presumably on a state payroll) in her electorate office, has now been caught out using her parliamentary charge card for completely personal travel to Australia and other illegal spending. She has not been disciplined and has been allowed simply to pay the money back and to trivialize her actions as “a big boo-boo”. The details of how much she spent have not been made public. She claimed it was “about $200” but that seems unlikely given what she was said to have purchased.

When male MP’s have misused their parliamentary charge cards for unauthorized private purposes, they have been demoted and censured. Not so when a female does it! And her offending came after a number of cases in recent years that served to clarify the rules. The previously disciplined male offenders could reasonably be excused for being unclear about what had become a common MP habit of using their parliamentary cards then paying back any personal expenses, but Ms Hauiti cannot credibly use the same defence.

What an incredible, blatant pussy pass in our most powerful institution.