Unethical

Last week, we learned that former Police Minister Judith Collins was acting as a "brand ambassador" for an Auckland car dealership, receiving free use of high-end cars in exchange for promoting them. Prime Minister John Key, who has a void where his moral sense should be, sees nothing wrong with it and Collins assures us that it is, as MP's love to say when they're doing something wrong, "within the rules" (which she and her fellow MP's wrote).

But legality isn't the point. This is a question of ethics - specifically, "is it ethical for an MP to use their elected position for personal benefit like this?" And the answer to that question can only be "no". MPs should not be seeking to leverage election for private gain. We pay them huge salaries precisely so they're not under any pressure to do that. The fact that Collins is abusing her office like this to gain use of a succession of flash cars tells us that she is greedy, venal, and corrupt - and simply unfit to be an MP. If she wants to keep selling cars, she should resign.