Credit card spending details delayed

The release of thousands of documents detailing credit card spending by former Labour ministers and their staff, stretching back more than a decade, has been delayed till May.

Labour has made it clear it expects its former ministers to be given a chance to see the material first but Internal Affairs says it will have the documents for only a short time before figures are made public, and that is not the cause of the delay.

It blames the volume of information being compiled for the release being put back a month from early April. Documents are believed to fill 20 boxes or more. The cost of the exercise is estimated at $50,000.

The Cabinet Manual states that Cabinet records from a previous administration are supposed to be kept confidential, but Internal Affairs said former Labour ministers would not have any right of veto over the documents that were to be released.

The manual also states that the convention is unenforceable in a legal sense and does not over-ride the Official Information Act or other laws – but it says former ministers should be consulted before any information is released.

As MPs wait nervously to see what the records will reveal, Internal Affairs has two fulltime staff and others working part-time to piece together credit card bills from 7000 separate documents dating back seven years.

The documents were requested by media under the Official Information Act after credit card details for National ministers released to The Dominion Post sparked the resignation of former fisheries minister Phil Heatley over a bill for wine.

- © Fairfax NZ News