Act leader Rodney Hide is being labelled a hypocrite as it is revealed he took another trip, which was initially pay for by the taxpayer.
Hot on the heels of criticism he took his partner Louise Crome to Europe in September while he researched super cities, it has now emerged the couple also went to Hawaii in July, on a trip Ministerial Services paid for.
Mr Hide has since paid back the price tag of $10,000, but political commentator Graeme Hunt says the MP set himself up as a role model when it came to perk-busting and the behaviour of MPs and has let down the side badly.
"You can't say one thing and do another. If you claim that MPs overspend and waste public money and you do it yourself, then what credibility do you have?"
Mr Hunt says it will be very difficult for the public to take the Local Government Minister seriously again and he will struggle to recover from his actions.
Mr Hide argued that on the Europe trip, he was acting within the rules regarding taking partners on official overseas trips.
