Chris Carter Chris Carter is blaming the media for ruining his holiday plans, after his trip itinerary was leaked. The Independent MP has cancelled the trip he planned to take to Sri Lanka with his partner Peter Kaiser after details were leaked to 3News. The couple was to leave on December 29 flying business class to Colombo, via Singapore, at a cost of $13,902, 75 percent of which was to be paid by the taxpayer. Carter and Kaiser were to holiday with British MP Ben Bradshaw and his partner. The Te Atatu MP ha told Stuff.co.nz, "We have cancelled it. We've lost the deposit. We've cancelled. We're not going. Ok, fair enough? You guys have had yet another victory. So thanks, that's the end of the discussion." He said he was being unfairly targeted and many other MPs were using the travel perk to take holidays. "But we'll never know, will we? Only me. You would wonder why my travel's been leaked and nobody else's. I wonder why that was." Carter says the trip was booked months before Speaker Lockwood Smith axed MPs' travel perks, so it was within the rules at the time. He has accused Smith's office of leaking the details of his trip, something the Speaker firmly denies.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 23rd December 2010 - 10:43am