The Government did not handle the limousine controversy well because it was preoccupied by the death of a New Zealand soldier in Afghanistan and the Australian Prime Minister's visit, Prime Minister John Key says.
The Government did not handle the limousine controversy well because it was preoccupied by the death of a New Zealand soldier in Afghanistan and the Australian Prime Minister's visit, Prime Minister John Key says.
A decision to replace the Government's 34 three-year-old BMW limos with new ones sparked anger last week, with the move seen as hypocritical against a backdrop of ministerial calls for spending restraint.
Mr Key said he had asked for full information, and if Crown Law approved, he would release details this afternoon.
The new cars sell commercially for about $200,000 each but the Government gets a discount for bulk buying. The actual cost has not been stated, for commercial reasons. The former Labour Government bought the cars and the Internal Affairs Department agreed to a clause to renew them.
Mr Key said he never knew about the agreement. In Parliament last week, Cabinet Minister Gerry Brownlee admitted Finance Minister Bill English was told about the deal on December 17 -- although that was after Internal Affairs signed.
Labour has said Mr Key must have approved the spending but his office said that was not the case.
Mr Key told NewstalkZB the issue had been handled poorly.
"What I can say is it wasn't helped by the death (of Private Kirifi Mila). Also the (Australian PM Julia) Gillard visit meant that quite frankly we were focused on what we thought was pretty important and that didn't help.
"...We didn't cover ourselves in glory, it wasn't terribly well handled but probably when you see the facts, if I can release them, I think people will be surprised why we bought them but they won't be surprised when they see the facts."
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