Taxpayer pays for Key to back a loser
A trip taken by the prime minister to the NRL Grand Final last year is listed as an "official travel cost".
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Taxpayers paid for Prime Minister John Key to go to Australia to see the Warriors thrashed in last year's NRL final.
The Warriors lost to the Manly Sea Eagles 24-10.
The expense - unlikely to gain Mr Key any votes from "leaguies" - is revealed in the latest register of MP's pecuniary interests.
While Mr Key's overseas travel costs are understandably larger than most MPs, the NRL trip is the only one of Mr Key's which was not an "official visit".
Another National MP, Peseta Sam Lout-Iiga, also went to support the Warriors at the same match, but his junket was paid for by Vodafone.
Free Rugby World Cup tickets - at prices beyond the reach of many Kiwi families - were dished out to 48 MPs by a range of generous corporate hosts including Sky City, Fonterra and a bunch of banks.
The RwC going politicians included eight Labour MPs who accepted World Cup hospitality from Sky City Casino - and later opposed its convention centre expansion plan as an example of political corruption.
Caleb Allison
Wed, 23 May 2012
Wed, 23 May 2012
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Taxpayer pays for Key to back a loser
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