Prime Minister John Key has accepted the resignation of Pansy Wong as Ethnic and Women's Affairs Minister.
Ms Wong said in a release that she had used her parliamentary travel entitlement to pay for her husband to travel within China at the end of 2008.
“Although the trip was a holiday, my husband did conduct some business. Further, I am not able at this point to give the Prime Minister an assurance that this is a one-off situation."
Ms Wong said she had asked the Speaker of the House to have Parliamentary Service review the use of my entitlement.
“In the event that any of my or my husband’s international travel is found to be outside the rules, I will be making a full refund to Parliamentary Service.
“I do not intend to make any further comment to the media pending the outcome of the investigation.”
Mr Key - who is in Japan - said in a release that he expected high standards from his Ministers and that Ms Wong had taken the appropriate step by resigning.
“On the face of it, this is a breach of travel entitlement rules and Mrs Wong has been unable to assure me it is a one-off breach."
“It is important that MPs and Ministers treat taxpayer money with the utmost respect."
Mr Key said he would not pre-judge the outcome of the Speaker's investigation.
“I am extremely disappointed to lose a Minister who has been an effective and hard-working representative for the ethnic community and New Zealand,” Mr Key said.
Georgina te Heuheu will be the Acting Minister for the Ethnic Affairs and Women’s Affairs portfolios.
Ms Wong came under fire this week when it emerged that she had listed her profession as ‘Minister of the NZ government’ when witnessing a deed concerning Chinese-based Lianyungang Supreme Hovercraft and Pacific Hovercraft New Zealand.
Mrs Wong's husband, Sammy Wong is a director of the Chinese company.
The couple were together on a private trip when the deed was signed – prompting an investigation by the Prime Minister’s office as to whether Ms Wong had potentially abused her parliamentary travel subsidy.
MP’s travel subsidies extend to their partners but are not meant to be used for business purposes.
Prime Minister John Key had earlier defended Ms Wong, saying that she had followed Cabinet rules “perfectly correctly and done nothing wrong” by listing her full profession when witnessing the deed.
Nina Fowler
Fri, 12 Nov 2010