The Business Committee has recommended Parliament's sitting programme for the next year [PDF]: 27 weeks, starting just after Waitangi Day, and wrapping up on 17 November, a week before the House formally expires. There's the usual gaps for school holidays, which also gives the politicians time off to attend some religious event in late October. What's the bet there's heavy use of the travel perk around those times?
(Still, it could be worse: they could be abusing it to attend similar events overseas, at far greater cost to the taxpayer, but still: watching a bunch of people play with a ball is not "Parliamentary business").
