Since the exposure of ACT leader Rodney Hide's taxpayer-subsidised holiday last year, MPs have been on notice that their use of their unjustifiable (and now abolished) travel perk was going to come under close public scrutiny. So the only thing surprising about Chris Carter's public exposure and shaming for having booked himself a $14,000 xmas holiday on the taxpayer is that he is surprised. He booked himself a last hurrah using a rort the public hates and which even his fellow MPs have been forced to admit is unjustifiable. What did he think would happen?
Naturally, of course, he's blaming the media, and hinting that it is all because he's gay. But the only person at fault here is Carter, and his arrogance and sense of entitlement. He thought he could screw the taxpayer again and get away with it. And he's just been reminded (again) that we are just not going to put up with that anymore, regardless of who you are, and regardless of your sexuality.
And that said, he does raise an interesting point: other MPs may also have taken the opportunity to book themselves a last hurrah on the taxpayer. We deserve to know who these thieves are, so they can be named and shamed. They can either tell us now, or we can learn in three months' time when the quarterly expenses are published. But either way, we are going to find out, and they are going to pay the electoral price.
