Pansy Wong's political future in jeopardy

  • Breaking
  • 13/11/2010

By Jono Hutchison

The future of National MP Pansy Wong is looking grim, as the Prime Minister revealed her husband booked trips through her office.

Yesterday she resigned from cabinet after it was revealed her husband abused a taxpayer funded travel subsidy.

The National MP has been silent since admitting her husband conducted business on a taxpayer-subsidised trip that should have been just a holiday.

“I don't know whether she knew or not, but she certainly can't recall. She said he booked the trips with the office, and effectively using her discount, one would assume, but she didn't book them. So she said "look, I don't know.",” says Prime Minister John Key.

But the opposition is not so trusting of Wong’s words.

“It's inconceivable that she did not know about her husband's travel plans, and equally that she was not aware of the very strong rule that you do not use taxpayer funding to carry out commercial business travel,” says Labour leader Phil Goff.

Wong announced her resignation from cabinet in a written statement last night.

The Prime Minister, who's in Japan, was coy about the suggestion she should quit as an MP.

“It's quite a big step to leave Parliament. I mean, we've seen people go, obviously, and you can never rule those things out,” says Key.

The president of the Chinese Association says the Chinese community is disappointed with Wong, but it's too early to say whether she should leave Parliament.

“I think that for the meantime the information that we have, I think that her resignation from cabinet recognises the situation as it is known at the moment,” says Chinese Association president Steven Young.

Both the Prime Minister, and Wong in her statement, have suggested this was not the only indiscretion.

3 News understands there has been a lot of political activity behind the scenes preparing for more allegations to come, so Wong can expect to stay in the headlines a while longer. The question is: will she stay in Parliament?

3 News

source: newshub archive