MPs Assets
April 30th, 2005 at 7:08 am by David FarrarThe NZ Herald has done a search of public registers, to find out what assets are owned by MPs.
The house values are always interesting. I’ll summarise below the top few and bottom few:
Under $200,000 in property
Parekura Horomia $114,000 for two houses in Gisborne plus land in Wairoa!
Nanaia Mahuta $126,000 for a property in Waikato
Darren Hughes $141,000 for a house in Howowhenua
Dave Heroera $160,000 for a house in Manukau
Keith Locke $193,000 for a house in Auckland
Over $1,000,000 in property
Lockwood Smith $1,005,000 for four farms
Wayne Mapp $1,035,000 for houses in North Shore and Wellington
Phil Goff $1,045,000 in Manukau
Tariana Turia $1,140,000 for a house in Wanganui and farm in Rangitikei
Pansy Wong $1,154,750 for two houses and a plot.
Ann Hartley $1,233,000 for five houses in North Shore and Auckland
Richard Worth $1,330,000 for a house in Auckland
Maurice Williamson $1,450,000 for a house in Auckland and a house in Manukau
Sandra Goudie $1,450,000 for property in Hauraki District
Sue Kedgley $1,450,000 for a house in Wellington
Judith Tizard $1,530,000 for homes in Auckland and Coromandel
Dover Samuels $1,900,000 for motel and dwelling in Matauri Bay
Murray McCully $2,110,000 for three houses
Jim Sutton $2,120,000 farm in Waimate and flat in Wellington
Dail Jones $2,129,000 for five properites
David Carter $2,141,100 for four farms and a unit in Canterbury
Pita Paraone $2,260,000 for three orchards and a house
Muriel Newman $2,826,000 for three farms and a house
Brian Connell $2,940,000 for a farm in Ashburton and two properties in Christchurch
Shane Ardern $3,125,000 for two farms in South Taranaki
John Key $8,395,000 for four properties
No ACT MPs in the over $1,000,000 list. They must be better at hiding their assets 
UPDATE: That is no ACT MPs except Deputy Leader Muriel Newman. Missed noticing her.
No tag for this post.
April 30th, 2005 at 7:23 am
Thank you David for confirming that Muriel Newman is NOT an ACT MP — something many of us have suspected for a long time. She is on the list of over 1,000,000 that you have but your comment says “No ACT MPs in the over $1,000,000 list.” I always thought she was part of United Future myself or maybe Christian Heritage but ACT, she just didn’t seem to fit.
Vote:April 30th, 2005 at 7:57 am
and I notice that Pansy Wong has a “plot”! does Murray know?
*ba boom boom*
Vote:April 30th, 2005 at 9:41 am
IF the Herald has it right the party leader with the most assets is Tariana Turia leader of the Maori party.
Must have bought her way into power!
Vote:April 30th, 2005 at 10:20 am
If these house valuations are correct, there must have been a major crash in property prices overnight.
Vote:April 30th, 2005 at 11:45 am
Holy Crap!
Vote:April 30th, 2005 at 12:43 pm
no wonder the coutnry is in such a crap financial state. The “leaders/rulers” are all broke. How can the country expect to raise it’s standard of living if the people withthe power to make the rules can’t even get it right despite large salaries and benefits to boot.
Vote:April 30th, 2005 at 1:16 pm
Dare I ask how Keith Lockes house in Auckland is worth only $193,000? Is it a caravan parked in New Lynn somewhere?
Vote:April 30th, 2005 at 1:32 pm
I tend to agree with the last comment and add that these figures are of limited value. Family trusts and private companies can hide many assets. I am not sure where you can buy 4 farms for $1 million as in Lockwood Smiths case, but it wouldn’t be in his electorate.
Vote:On the other hand, the dollars listed are not nett values either. There could be a lot of debt hanging over these property values. Makes one wonder what the point of it all is unless complete data is used….
April 30th, 2005 at 2:38 pm
Of course, that is property, it ignores stock holdings or money in bank accounts, so it is not an indication of worth. I would suspect that once those are including, ACT members would be a lot higher up.
Vote:April 30th, 2005 at 5:12 pm
I expect the old trust funds have distorted the list as well. But the Herald should have searched the Companies Office database for directorships etc.
Vote:April 30th, 2005 at 5:13 pm
Full discosure will mean that the poor [regardless of talent] who have not much to lose will stand for Parliament whereas somebody with wealth and talent who does not want nosey parkers and busybodies looking into their property will be discouraged. Who cares what other countries do. With all the laws and procedures like disclosure a way can be found around everything. People, when they get into the Beehive do they lose there common sense.
Vote:May 1st, 2005 at 1:05 pm
Why should rich people be deterred from becoming MPs if they have to disclose their financial assets along with all other MPs? Do they have things to hide?
Vote:May 1st, 2005 at 2:35 pm
The problem with this type of disclosure is that we live in a nation of tall poppy sycthe carriers, and if your collect too many assets then you are obviously the enemy, and you are out to get the worker.
Vote:However this list does lead to a few interesting questions…1st namely, why is it OK for a green party member to live in a $1m+ house, and yet anyone else who wants to is raping the landscape, and obviously ripping off the poor in the process?
Do these types ever have a real sense of how Joe Blow down in Cannons Creek live their day to day lives…probably not, but they’re out to help the poor, so thats all right then (too bad that the poor themselves would think that person is a dickhead if they ever turned up on their doorstep and tried to get tobe their bestmate)
May 1st, 2005 at 5:30 pm
Michael:
Why should Labour people be deterred from becoming MPs if they have to disclose their current and previous memberships of unions and politial action groups along with all other MPs? Do they have things to hide?
Vote: