Rodney Hide, who last year was busted for abusing his Parliamentary travel perks, has come out in support of transparency, saying that it is public money and that the public have "an expectation around transparency and accountability these days". The Greens' Metiria Turei is also backing transparency, as well as calling for a full independent review of Parliamentary perks to remove the taint of MPs setting their own entitlements.
Meanwhile, Phil Goff remains silent. New Zealand's leading progressive party isn't leading on this. That doesn't just put them in the wrong - as Hide says, this is public money, and so we are entitled to see how it is spent - it also puts them on the wrong side of the public.
