Ardern and Peters repay wrongly paid allowances
The error was not of the politicians' making.
The error was not of the politicians' making.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters have repaid accommodation allowances they wrongly received since forming the government.
In a statement Ms Ardern says both she and Winston Peters have received an apology from the Department of Internal Affairs for the error.
As well, she has paid back $12,205.49 and Mr Peters repaid $9123.29.
Ms Ardern says departmental officials advised her and Mr Peters of the error yesterday.
“The error occurred when the DIA’s ministerial services continued to pay each of us a member of Parliament’s Wellington accommodation allowance after they had moved us into official accommodation, at which point payments should have stopped,” she says.
Ms Ardern also released the letters she and Mr Peters received from the department apologising for the mistake.