8 May 2015

MPs' gifts: Springsteen tickets and a ladle

1:40 pm on 8 May 2015

The Prime Minister and other MPs have revealed the gifts, assets and investments they own in this year's register of pecuniary and other specified interests.

Gifts included tickets to Bruce Springsteen's Auckland show.

Gifts included tickets to Bruce Springsteen's Auckland show. Photo: AFP

Themes identified across the board are a love of concerts and sport.

John Key's gifts include a carved tikoko (ladle); golf balls and a putter from the American president, Barack Obama; and golf trips and club memberships.

Finance Minister Bill English received accommodation from Air New Zealand, while former Justice Minister Judith Collins got two tickets to a Bruce Springsteen concert.

MPs have been required to declare their gifts, assets and investments since the register was established in 2006.

The full document is available here.

Property ownership

The biggest property owners in Parliament are also shown on this year's register.

Those who own the most property by quantity - either directly or through trusts - are predominately National members.

They include Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy, who has interests in seven properties, and Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee, whose name is linked to six.

Justice Minister Amy Adams is connected to seven properties - all listed as being owned by trusts.

The register shows only seven out of 121 MPs have no financial interest in property.

They include ACT leader David Seymour and National MPs Todd Barclay, Paul Foster-Bell and Simon O'Connor.

About 80 MPs own more than one property: Mr Key has five and Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett has three.

Among other party leaders, New Zealand First's Winston Peters has three properties and Labour's Andrew Little and the Greens' Russel Norman have one each.

Other investments

National MP Stuart Smith declared investments in companies such as Sky City while David Carter declared shares in state-owned energy companies Meridian, Genesis and Mighty River Power, which were all listed on the sharemarket in the last few years.

Other MPs may own shares in companies through investment trusts, however, so it hard to know the exact scale of their investments.