Cabinet ministers ordered to pay up or move out

Cabinet ministers are being told to buy the furniture and other chattels in their ministerial houses or face it being sold as the Crown terminates their leases and moves out of the property business.

The new bulk-funded accommodation allowance for ministers takes effect from this month, after an overhaul of the housing system ordered by Prime Minister John Key.

Under the changes, all ministers from electorates outside Wellington besides the six in Crown-owned homes will receive a lump sum of $37,500 a year, or $30,000 if they live in their own property.

They will have to organise their own accommodation, pay their own utility bills and sign leases in their own names, details released yesterday under the Official Information Act show.

A Department of Internal Affairs report says a list of all the chattels in each official ministerial home is being compiled, and some items will be taken and installed in Crown-owned residences.

The remainder will be valued and either offered to ministers staying on in the houses or auctioned off.

Ministers will also have to get used to not having any staff to change light bulbs or organise a plumber. They will have to insure their own goods, sign over utility bills to their own name and organise their own cleaning. Internal Affairs estimates scrapping the administration and maintenance of ministerial residences will save $206,000 a year.

Key remains at Premier House and ministers Gerry Brownlee, Tariana Turia, Simon Power, Nick Smith and Tony Ryall can also stay in their Crown-owned homes.

But other ministers' leases begin to expire from this month, after which they must transfer leases into their own names – or move out.

The first to shift is Transport Minister Steven Joyce, who will leave the cottage in the grounds of Premier House in January.

Ministers contacted yesterday said they had yet to make up their minds about whether they would shift out or take up leases with the landlord themselves.

A spokeswoman for Food Safety Minister Kate Wilkinson said she was looking at moving from her apartment but had not yet made a final decision.

A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said since his apartment was in Bowen House, which is owned by Parliamentary Services, the minister would simply sign a new lease and remain in his accommodation.

A spokesman for Defence Minister Wayne Mapp said he would "probably" stay in his house and had not yet decided whether to buy the furniture.

Premier Cottage will no longer be used as an official residence and its future is under consideration.

At least one other Crown-owned ministerial home is to be sold, the report says, after Vogel House is returned to the pool of ministerial houses. Vogel House is usually occupied by the Deputy Prime Minister but the Governor-General has been living there while Government House is renovated.

The Government may yet sell the rest of its ministerial houses, apart from Premier House, after a review due next year.

The changes follow controversy over ministers claiming up to $1000 a week on their housing while preaching restraint to the public service.

Finance Minister Bill English has repaid $32,000 after revelations he was receiving the equivalent of nearly $50,000 a year to live in his own home.

The deputy prime minister no longer receives any accommodation allowance.

- © Fairfax NZ News