Kiwi Kids Books

The big news this week is that the government has released the Register of Pecuniary Interestsand boy does it make you think. For those of you that don’t know the Register of Pecuniary Interests is basically a list of all things personal that may land an MP in trouble later if they don’t let the world know. Therefore the list includes information about company involvement, financial interests, property they own, debtors, super schemes, overseas travel and also any gifts they may have received. In true Ozy Mandias fashion I would like to offer my point of view on this strange rule and offer a way forward into the future.

Firstly, we must question the need for such a list. Why should MP’s have to disclose all their personal information? I don’t feel the need to list publicly all of my information and in particular any gifts that I received over the last year. Now I realise that gifts only $500 need to go on the list and perhaps that is where things get hard for me. In the last year I received a number of gifts, but sadly none of them clicked over the $500 mark. My Christmas present last year from my wife was a tyre for my bike – value $69 from Torpedo 7. My birthday present was a book, that incidentally I had already bought, for $29 and some running shoes. But I suppose when we think about it, this list is an important net for our MP’s. Not that it helps as most of them in their time in our parliament managed to put there foot in their mouth once or twice.

Secondly, for my mind the list doesn’t give enough detail into the lives of our MP’s. Sure there is monetery information that could be useful, but for me it is rather limited. I would rather find out my MP. I want to know what makes them tick and what they really think…along with their bank balance. So I have listed below that things that should also be included in next years list.

- Super 14 team supported

- Religion

- IQ

- Hobbies

- Library fines / Speeding tickets

- Height / Weight / BMI / shoe size

Finally I personally see this list as a challenge to the Ozy Mandias Website. A quick glimpse through the list and you will see that Ozy Mandias is not mentioned. My aim is that in one year’s time, when we going through this process again, Ozy Mandias’ name will be on the Register of Pecuniary Interests 2011. To do this the equation is simple. I need to give a gift to an MP that has a value of more than $500. Now I don’t even spend $500 on my wife so this places me in a tricky situation. How can I justify spending that kind of money on Simon Bridges, John Key, Jerry Brownlee and not my wife? While this may be a problem to others I see this as a challenge.  Apart from actually giving the present I have to make it look like it has more than a $500 value. At this stage I will be honest and say I am still in the thinking and planning stage. Advice from my wide readership would be very helpful.