Wellington - A minister in the New Zealand government who once promoted himself as "The Perkbuster" in parliament made a public apology Sunday for taking his girlfriend overseas at taxpayer expense and said he would pay back the cost of her trips. Rodney Hide, 52, leader of the free market Association of Consumers and Taxpayers party, claimed a 90-per-cent discount on airfares that all members of parliament are entitled to obtain for their partners when he took girlfriend Louise Crome, 31, on two overseas trips this year.
Hide, who is separated from his wife, took Crome to Hawaii for a holiday in July and then to accompany him in his role as minister of local government on an official trip to London, Canada and the United States.
It later emerged that the visit to London coincided with the wedding of Crome's brother, which they both attended.
In the face of mounting public criticism, Hide called a press conference Sunday, saying, "I want to apologize to the public. I want to apologize to my colleagues and my supporters."
He stressed that he had not broken any rules by claiming the fare discount for Crome but said he had been wrong to do so.
"I am not proud of my casual use of taxpayers' money to take a holiday in Hawaii with my partner," he said.
He repaid the 10,000-New Zealand-dollar (7,200-US-dollar) cost of her fare when news of that trip became public last week and said he would refund the 11,952-New Zealand-dollar cost of the other trip on Monday.
Apologizing to his voters in the wealthy Auckland suburb of Epsom, Hide said, "I have let them down. I have made mistakes."
Hide vowed to cut long-standing air-fare subsidies to politicians when he was first elected to parliament in 1997, saying, "Why should members of parliament swan off all over the world on holiday, having their travel heavily subsidized by the taxpayer, who has struggled all year to go on a caravan jaunt at Christmas?"
He revelled in the nickname "The Perkbuster" as he railed against preferential subsidies for politicians and other state officials.
This year, Prime Minister John Key said he would pay for his wife to accompany him on official visits and urged other ministers to do the same while saying the use of the air-fare subsidy was a personal decision for all politicians.
Hide, whose party supports the centre-right government led by the National Party, also apologized to Key for disparaging remarks, including a comment that the prime minister had not done much in his first year in office, which Hide made last week in the presence of a reporter.
Although the prime minister dismissed it as light-hearted political banter, Hide said, "I want to publicly apologize to John Key for distracting attention away from the important job his government has in lifting New Zealand's economic performance.
"The prime minister has entrusted me with a big and important job. He is excellent to work with, and I appreciate his very generous support - especially over the last two weeks."
