u/ChinaCatProphet

Ministers on taxpayer-funded overseas trips have stayed at luxury resorts, five-star hotels, and historic landmark properties, an analysis of travel records reveals.

It gives a rare glimpse at how some senior politicians travel while representing New Zealand — details that are typically redacted from public records.

The Press has analysed hundreds of pages of expense disclosures, invoices, receipts and credit-card records to identify more than 30 hotels used during taxpayer-funded trips.

Hotel names and booking details are routinely removed from ministerial travel records, but supporting documents can sometimes contain enough information to identify the property in question. These include GST registration numbers, specific postcodes, and room charges to hotel restaurants.

Among the five-star hotels identified by The Press are the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs, the Shangri-La in Singapore, the Fairmont Jakarta, the Fullerton Sydney, the Parkroyal Collection Pickering in Singapore, and The Langham Gold Coast.

Ministers also stay at international hotel brands such as Sofitel, Marriott, Hilton, and Four Seasons, often marketed or classified as five-star.

The data is incomplete — many hotels remain unidentified, and records for some ministers are unavailable altogether — but it shows that many stays were in luxury or upscale hotels.

There is no suggestion ministers breached travel rules, or that this government’s practices differ from previous governments. However, it comes as ministers continue to call for spending restraint across the public sector, while facing scrutiny over their own perks and entitlements.

The Langham on the Gold Coast is one of the five-star hotels used by ministers.

Following the paper trail

About two-thirds of the hotels we’ve identified are advertised as five-star properties, with nightly rates commonly ranging from $600 to $800. Ministers often travel with a staffer, increasing the cost.

When travelling within New Zealand, ministers are limited to accommodation costing up to $350 a night, except in Queenstown. There appears to be no equivalent cap for overseas travel.

While it’s no surprise that ministers aren’t slumming it in a backpackers, some stay in properties that are among the most exclusive in their respective destinations.

Judith Collins and a staff member had an $11,000 stay at the Royal Horseguards Thistle Hotel overlooking the River Thames.

supplied

At least two ministers have stayed at the historic Royal Horseguards Hotel in Central London, overlooking the River Thames. On a trip in September last year, then-Defence Minister Judith Collins and a staffer stayed there for seven days, resulting in a combined bill of more than $11,000.

On another trip, Collins stayed at the five-star Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington D.C.

While attending a conference in Singapore, Education Minister Erica Stanford stayed at a five-star hotel connected to the venue. Shane Reti, visiting Singapore while he was Minister for Health, stayed at the five-star ParkRoyal Pickering. The invoice suggests he checked in to the $850 a night room just before 11pm and left the next day.

Some of the hotels host conferences and government delegations, which likely influenced the choice to stay there. For example, Collins twice stayed at the Broadmoor Resort while attending the International Space Symposium, which is held at the venue.

But ministers also decide which overseas engagements they wish to attend, and seek approval for those trips through Cabinet processes. Their own staff are responsible for booking accommodation and they are required to consider affordability when doing so.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s office referred questions about accommodation choices to Ministerial Services.

A Ministerial Services spokesperson said ministers and their staff organised their travel.

“Ministers and their offices are responsible for ensuring overseas accommodation represents appropriate value for money in the circumstances and aligns with the Cabinet-approved budget”, the spokesperson said.

That includes exercising “individual responsibility for judgements about reasonableness and appropriateness”.

Factors such as security, location, hosting needs, and availability fed into accommodation choices.

The records also offer glimpses of spending beyond accommodation.

When one minister travelled to Switzerland, he dined at the Café du Soleil a “sanctuary of melted cheese” famous for its fondue. Another minister, on a separate trip to the same country, twice visited McDonald’s.

Other receipts revealed meals at a Bavarian alehouse in Munich, a French bistro in Paris, and fine dining restaurants in the US.

A Government on the move

Budget documents show nearly $28 million was allocated or expected to be spent across 2024/25 and 2025/26 on domestic and international travel by ministers and approved accompanying parties.

The Sofitel in Sydney’s Darling Harbour offers spectacular views.

Brook Sabin

Much of the expenditure relates to overseas travel, which forms a routine part of ministerial responsibilities. Over the past two years, ministers have visited about 50 countries and destinations, with ministerial travel recorded on all seven continents, including Antarctica.

After overseas trips, ministers are required to report back to Cabinet. Those reports typically show a packed itinerary of official engagements.

Comparisons with previous governments are difficult because international travel was heavily disrupted during the Covid-19 pandemic. Historical records suggest recent spending is broadly comparable with pre-pandemic levels once inflation is taken into account.

How much ministers travel depends heavily on their portfolios.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters, Trade Minister Todd McClay and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon have been the Government's most frequent international travellers, each recording overseas travel costs exceeding $1 million.

Christopher Luxon visiting Sydney for his first overseas trip as prime minister.

DAVID UNWIN / The Post

Peters has visited at least 35 countries during the period examined, while Luxon has travelled to more than 25. McClay has made repeated trips to key trading partners, including multiple visits to the Middle East while negotiating a free-trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Collins is among a second tier of frequent travellers, undertaking about 25 overseas trips, including multiple visits to Europe, Asia and North America. Climate Change Minister Simon Watts has recorded about $325,000 in travel expenditure, including visits to China and Antarctica.

Other ministers have travelled comparatively little.

Environment Minister Penny Simmonds recorded no international travel expenditure during the period examined, while Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour spent less than $2000. Cabinet ministers Simeon Brown and Matt Doocey have also spent relatively little time overseas.

The records identified by The Press do not show extravagance in every case. Some ministers stayed in airport hotels or regional resorts, or ate food bought from convenience stores or cheap cafes.

Nor do the records suggest ministers broke any rules. Instead, they provide one of the few detailed glimpses available into how ministers travel while representing New Zealand overseas.

The Radisson Blu in Fiji

Brook Sabin

Note: Categories are The Press classifications based on star rating, property positioning, published descriptions and nightly cost.

Luxury and iconic five-star hotels

The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs

Shangri-La Singapore

The Fullerton Hotel Sydney

Fairmont Jakarta

The Royal Horseguards Hotel, London

The Langham, Gold Coast

The Dupont Circle Hotel, Washington DC

The Trafalgar St. James London, Curio Collection by Hilton

Premium five-star hotels

InterContinental Edinburgh The George

Parkroyal Collection Pickering, Singapore

Sofitel Melbourne on Collins

Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour

Sofitel Adelaide

Hilton Sydney

Hyatt Regency Sydney

JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort & Spa

Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel, Tokyo

Inspire Entertainment Resort, Seoul

Swissôtel The Stamford, Singapore

Stamford Plaza Melbourne

Upscale international hotels

Rome Marriott Grand Hotel Flora

Renaissance Vancouver Harbourside Hotel

Canopy by Hilton Paris

Santa Monica Hilton

Parkroyal Darling Harbour Sydney

Crowne Plaza Darling Harbour

DoubleTree by Hilton New York Downtown

Radisson Blu

Regional resort and business hotels

Scenic Matavai Resort, Niue

Coral Sea Resort & Casino, Honiara

Holiday Inn Suva

​

The airport arrest of a doctor over his student loan debt is part of an IRD crackdown on the huge amounts owed by offshore Kiwis. Steve Kilgallon reports.

Vic* was at Wellington Airport last month, heading home to Australia - where he has lived and worked as a medical specialist for three decades - when three police officers approached.

He was arrested, spent three nights in custody, and at a court hearing, had his passport confiscated. He’s still here, a month later, unable to work.

Vic hadn’t committed a criminal offence - but he owed, IRD calculated, student loan arrears of almost $180,000. He was just the 13th person arrested at the border in the last decade for student loan debts.

Vic’s brother, Bob*, has an even bigger bill, about $310,000, a debt he says he’ll be paying off until he dies, unless he can negotiate a reduced deal.

The brothers came home to care for an ailing father, and Bob is worried he too will be stopped on departure.

They accept they owe the money and should have responded to IRD’s repeated attempts to contact them - but say it’s only been in recent years they realised how much they owed.

That combined almost half a million dollars is still only a tiny fraction of the $2.3b owed by about 113,000 overseas-based borrowers (OBBs).

Almost 70% of those OBBs are in arrears - and about 24,000 of them have debts older than 15 years, with no repayment plan.

IRD won’t comment on specific cases, but says border arrests are a “last resort” - although it accepts it’s taking a more aggressive approach, for which Revenue Minister Simon Watts is unapologetic.

“Those who repeatedly ignore their obligations should expect consequences,” he says. “It’s not acceptable for individuals to avoid their student loan obligations. Student loans are funded by New Zealand taxpayers, and borrowers have a responsibility to repay what they owe.”

Given extra enforcement funding in the 2024 Budget, IRD began cracking down on serious debtors last year. Watts said IRD had exceeded its targets, collecting $544m in bad debts since then against targets of $395m.

One reason why OBBs build up such mammoth arrears is because while onshore Kiwis don’t pay interest on their loans, once someone’s been offshore for 182 days, the government charges 5.6% interest.

And for those in arrears, another 9.6% in penalties is added - which means Vic and Bob are paying over 15% on their debts. The brothers say they actually only borrowed about $60,000 between them in the early 1990s. By Vic’s maths, his debt has gone up 800%.

Who you gonna call? Dave

Lawyer Dave Ananth: “I want people to come home.”

Lawyer Dave Ananth: “I want people to come home.”. Photo: Ricky Wilson

When Vic was released from custody the day after the King’s Birthday holiday, he asked Google who might help. The name that came up - as it does for many others in similar situations - was that of former tax prosecutor Dave Ananth.

After first being asked to help a friend reconcile her loan four years ago, Ananth has almost shelved his tax work to focus on student loan debts and, as far as he knows, he’s got the field to himself.

“It’s a massive, massive problem,” he says. “I get calls every day from all over the world.”

Ananth reckons he’s dealt with more than 300 cases; representing about $25m of debt, and recovered between $5m and $7m, with more to come in instalments. The average age of his clients is 45, their average debt about $150,000, and they’ve been offshore around 15 years.

Usually, he says, he’s talking to people in some form of crisis. His wife, a hospice grief counsellor, has advised him to be patient, and listen.

“The IRD looks at it as a number, as a file. But behind every student loan there is a person, there’s a family, there’s kids, there’s a mortgage, a break-up, mental health, illness.”

Imagine, says Ananth, you finished a history degree 20 years ago, and graduated with a loan of $30,000, then immediately went overseas, say to Australia with family.

“Then you forget about the student loan. In New Zealand, you can’t forget because it is captured from your wages. But if you go abroad, no one reminds you. Then 20 years later, you get an email, or your parents ring you up and your loan has ballooned from $30,000 to $150,000. That’s common. That’s a conversation I have every day.

“You open your mail, and you see this $150,000 owing, the reaction is: ‘I’m not dealing with this.’ It's overwhelming. A lot of them get their heads buried in the sand. But it doesn’t go away. That $150,000 now increases, compounded daily.”

His record debt was more than $500,000 (he’s still sorting that one out). He talks to IRD every day, and all his deals are done by negotiation: he never sets foot in a courtroom.

“I know exactly what [resources] they [IRD] have. It’s not worth fighting unless they’ve got it wrong.”

He says about 20% of his clients have the funds to repay their debts, but the rest would struggle, “but all of them have put their hands up and said ‘I want to do this … I've had my head in the sand. I didn't know where to go, what to do’”.

An April law change allows IRD “discretion” to remit interest - previously they could only forgive penalties (the move was opposed by both Treasury and the Ministry of Education, but Watts said the changes were a practical way to “recover debt that might otherwise never be repaid”).

Ananth says he can usually negotiate away penalties “provided you don’t have a 35-foot yacht and $1m sitting in a bank somewhere”.

Revenue minister Simon Watts says: “Those who repeatedly ignore their obligations should expect consequences.”

Revenue minister Simon Watts says: “Those who repeatedly ignore their obligations should expect consequences.”. Photo: Chino Barrett-Lovie / Stuff

Ananth says both IRD and borrowers could engage earlier. He has one client in Europe who wants to come home. She owes more than $100,000 but has a limited income. Because she made an upfront offer, IRD agreed to $1,000 upfront and an initial $100 a month.

Ananth makes one thing clear: he believes tax debts should be paid, and there’s only two ways out of it: “You go bankrupt, or you die.”

“I enjoy doing this,” he adds. “It gives me great satisfaction to [help] people come home.”

In Vic’s case, he wants to get him back to Australia: if he’s here, he can’t work, and therefore can’t pay. He’s working hard on a deal.

No Ned Kelly

IRD says that stopping someone at the border is “an action of last resort”.

IRD says that stopping someone at the border is “an action of last resort”. Photo: Mark Jephson / WAIKATO TIMES

“The IRD are treating me as the Ned Kelly of student loans, but I haven’t killed anyone,” says Vic. “In fact, I spend my working life trying to help people.”

Vic was 23 when he took out his loan; it was the first year of the scheme, he borrowed $20,000 to finish his medical degree, and then “life unfolded, both good and bad”.

He accepts he’s obliged to pay up, and should have done so, and he’s not upset about his arrest, which he accepts was inevitable.

He says while he suffered claustrophobia in the cells, the police were polite and professional.

But he says if 70% of people in his situation are in arrears, that “suggests a systemic problem in the way the system was set up and how the IRD is dealing with re-engagement”. Ananth agrees.

Vic says he didn’t hear from IRD until 2015, 23 years after taking the loan, by which time it had “snowballed”.

He says they wanted a lump sum, but in poor mental and physical health at the time and in a tough financial situation, he didn’t engage.

He suffers recurring depression and was off work for a year due to a major relapse; he was also given a cancer diagnosis in 2012 with a 20% chance of surviving five years.

“Do I spend my time paying down my mortgage and organising my family’s future or do I pay a student loan that dies with me?”

Got a tip for us to investigate?

Email us securely at investigations@stuffdigital.co.nz

contact our team

When he was released from the cells, Vic began negotiating with an IRD case manager, but says it turned “into a sketch from Monty Python” with a demand for full payment and the refusal of a lump sum offer of $40,000 and $1500 a month.

He’s been without income for eight weeks and has had to cancel shoulder and eye surgeries.

He knows people will assume that as a doctor, he’s wealthy. “I don’t own a yacht or drive a sports car. I have a 2007 Audi which keeps me poor and the family live in a modest wooden terrace.”

Vic reckons many like him are dissuaded from coming home. “I hope my case may shed some light on what is really happening.”

His brother, meanwhile, feels in limbo and deeply stressed while Ananth negotiates with IRD on his behalf.

Bob worked in the UK for seven years after graduating, contracting via an agency which promised to look after his NZ tax obligations. Given he’d not heard from IRD, he assumed his debts were being taken care of.

He says he’s been in and out of New Zealand many times without any friction.

“There was a point where I thought ‘okay, maybe it's gone, wiped’. I think I had sort of forgotten about it, to tell you the truth.”

He says it was two years ago that he finally understood the situation.

“I still don’t understand why mine is so big. It’s been a long time, but I don’t quite get it.”

He hopes Ananth can negotiate a deal to forgive the penalties and some of the interest: “At its current level, I’ll be paying this off for the rest of my life.”

* Not their real names

Absolutely outstanding attendance today in Dunedin against the Gender definition bill! To all Trans, Non-binary, and intersex people in Aotearoa, remember you are not alone.