Hone Harawira

Wellington, Nov 5 NZPA - Maori Party MP Hone Harawira's decision to take a holiday in Paris with his wife instead of attending a parliamentary conference shows why the public are wondering about MPs perks, Labour deputy leader Annette King said today.

Mr Harawira may be asked to pay back some travel costs after leaving the Brussels conference last month to see the sights in Paris.

"How many times in my lifetime am I going to get to Europe? So I thought, `F*** it, I'm off. I'm off to Paris'," he said in a newsletter.

Mr Harawira, whose wife Hilda accompanied him on the trip, paid for the extra travel himself.

He said issues to be discussed at the meeting had been covered at a dinner the night before.

European Parliament MP Mara Bizzotto -- who chaired the delegation for relations with Australia and New Zealand -- "was cool with it", he said.

Ms King wondered why Mr Harawira bothered to go to the dinner for the discussions if he had not intended to go to the meeting.

"I understand why he'd want to go to Paris, but perhaps he could have done that when the conference finished, rather than leave a conference that taxpayers are paying for and head off with his wife to have some sightseeing," she said.

"I think that really does make people wonder about parliamentary travel and taxpayer's money."

The Office of the Clerk was considering the trip and a Parliamentary Service spokesman said it was possible he could be asked to repay a portion of his travel costs.

Mr Harawira accepted the trip to Paris was "outside the boundaries, but I don't feel uncomfortable with it".

The other two MPs in the delegation, National MP Katrina Shanks and Labour MP Rajen Prasad, attended the meeting, which discussed relations between the EU and New Zealand, family and youth policies and multiculturalism.

In 2007 Mr Harawira was told to pay back some flights after he left mid-way through a four-day select committee trip to Melbourne, so he could visit Aboriginal groups in Alice Springs.

Miss King said Mr Harawira's second "walkabout" should give him food for thought.

"I would just hope that when people are chosen to go on a trip to represent New Zealand at taxpayer expense that they actually do what is required of them, and bring back the ideas and the contacts with them."