ANALYSIS: The political judgment test over whether to take a taxpayer subsidy was one Christopher Luxon had already stumbled on in Opposition.
His advisors had to sit him down and tell him it was inappropriate for him to order himself a Tesla on the taxpayer dime while he was ripping into the Government for giving Clean Car Discounts to the wealthy. He should have learned the lesson then and didn't.
Instead, he initially decided to take $52,000 a year in a taxpayer-funded accommodation allowance while living in his own Wellington apartment because he doesn't believe Premier House is liveable. He then backtracked after public uproar and decided to pay back what he had already received.
The environment he has created is that every single cent of taxpayer cash needs to be managed. His Government is looking at cancelling classroom builds, cutting back food in schools, job cuts in the public service, and on Monday, hiking up costs for Kiwi families to drive their cars to work.
In that environment, he still thought it appropriate to trim some off the top for himself and still doesn't have a good explanation for it.
Jenna Lynch is Newshub's Political Editor.
