Rocker says Hide a hypocrite

BY JONATHAN MARSHALL - Sunday News

THE rock star cousin of Rodney Hide's girlfriend has joined the Prime Minister in saying MPs' perks should be reviewed.

"I think there should be some limit as to how many trips you can go on and how much you can spend. It should possibly be limited and a middle ground reached," Louise Crome's cousin, The Datsuns guitarist Phil Buscke, told Sunday News.

Hide has come under pressure over the past three weeks following revelations he took Crome on two taxpayer-subsidised trips costing more than $25,000.

The couple stayed in top-class hotels in Britain, Canada, the United States and Hawaii care of Hide's MP travel discount – despite a directive from Prime Minister John Key that ministers refrain from using public money to take partners overseas.

During the 10 day trip Hide treated his 31-year-old lover to a day at the Universal Studios amusement park in Los Angeles.

They also went to her brother David's wedding in London. Hide later repaid the bill.

Last week Key announced he would consider asking Parliament's speaker Lockwood Smith to review travel perks.

Such a review could look at a move to bulk-fund the sweetener as part of an MP's salary package.

Key said the issue was how voters perceived the current system.

"My concern in recent times has simply been that the heavy emphasis on perks, and the implications of many MPs taking them, could undermine the institution of Parliament in the way that the wider public view their parliamentarians. "On that basis we have tried to make changes to tidy up the system."

Buscke – who has just returned from a European tour with The Datsuns – said he understood why the public had criticised Hide. "If you are in the public eye and you criticise something that you then go on to do yourself, then you are asking to be criticised," he said.

"It's hypocritical but nobody is perfect."

Buscke said Crome's name should never have been dragged into the debate on parliamentary travel perks.

"This is not a reflection on (Crome), it's more (Hide's) business.

"She would have gone away with Rodney to support him.

"That's what she would have been doing."

Buscke has never voted in New Zealand or met Hide.

"All I know is he goes to the Remuera squash club, works out and is a cheerful kind of guy."

Buscke, who also plays squash at a competitive level, described his cousin as "very dedicated to her sport and her career".