A National MP has got herself into strife; Stuff reports:
A National MP has broken Parliament's rules by employing her civil union spouse in her electorate office.
List MP Claudette Hauiti's wife, Nadine Mau, was employed as an issues assistant in Hauiti's electorate office in Auckland from April 7 until last Wednesday when she was sacked.
Under direction from Speaker David Carter, MPs are not allowed to employ their spouse or partner, either in or outside Parliament.
Hauiti said she was unaware of the prohibition on employing spouses when she contracted her wife to work in her office.
"I'm really disappointed that I didn't know the rules, I've only been here a year and I should have kept up to speed with that and I didn't.
"I made a really big mistake."
Hauiti said she thought her wife would make a pertinent issues assistant because of the type of work she did with Maori communities.
"So I just took it upon myself to think that I could do that, but I was wrong.
"We were both mortified, we didn't know [the rules] - either of us. We were both really shocked."
There really is no excuse for not knowing the rules with regard to what an MP can and cannot do. There has been so much publicity over MP expenses in recent years that an error as elementary as this should not happen.
MP's do not operate in a vacuum. There are all sorts of sources of advice available, and it is solely Ms Hauiti's problem that she did not seek clarification over the rules.
Claudette Hauiti has indeed "made a really big mistake". It ought not have happened, and she has no one to blame but herself for the adverse publicity she has brought herself and the National Party. At the very least, she should pay the wages paid to Ms Mau back so that the taxpayer is not out of pocket as a result of her stuff-up. Ignorance of the rules is no excuse.
