NZ First MP Andy Foster claims $36k top-up to stay in home he’s owned for 26 years

The former Wellington mayor says he claims the accommodation subsidy because ‘the cost of owning a home in Wellington is not cheap’.

Andy Foster is a proud Wellington man. Before entering parliament on the NZ First party list in 2023, he served 10 terms on the Wellington City Council, including one as mayor of Wellington.

NZ First’s website describes him as a “List MP based in Wellington”, while on Facebook he identifies as a “NZ First List MP based in the Wairarapa and Wellington”. He is a longtime resident of Karori; he owns a four-bedroom house in the suburb valued at about $1.1 million. Property records show it was last sold in February 2000 for $323,000.

Despite owning a home in Wellington for 26 years, Foster is claiming a $36,400 per year taxpayer-funded accommodation subsidy intended for non-Wellington MPs. Foster’s parliamentary expense reports show he claimed $22,700 in 2025, starting with $3,100 in the April-to-June quarter, followed by the maximum possible amount of $9,800 in every quarter since. He confirmed to The Spinoff that he continues to claim the allowance.

MPs are eligible for the accommodation subsidy if they live “outside the Wellington commuting area”. In 2025, Foster purchased a second home in Wairarapa, where he intends to run as a candidate in the 2026 election. He now lists the Wairarapa property as his “family home”. Foster still owns his Karori home and stays there during parliament sitting blocks but told The Spinoff it was “no longer my primary place of residence”.

When asked if he thought it was reasonable to claim a $36,400 per year taxpayer subsidy on a property he already owned, Foster said “the actual and reasonable expense is much higher than that” and “I can tell you that the cost of owning a home in Wellington is not cheap”.

As a backbench MP, Foster earns an annual salary of $181,200. In his previous role as mayor of Wellington, he was paid $180,500 per year.

Andy Foster back when he was mayor of Wellington (Photo: Getty Images)

When asked if he owned the house outright or if his “actual and reasonable” expenses included mortgage payments, he refused to answer. “I’m not telling you that,” he said. “That’s my information”. He added that there was “no reason to declare it”. Foster has never listed any mortgages under the “debts owed by you” section of parliament’s pecuniary interests register.

Another former Wellington mayor, Green MP Celia-Wade Brown, also claimed the non-Wellington member’s accommodation subsidy. Brown has been based in the Wairarapa since 2017 and although she owns a home in Wellington’s south coast, it is currently tenanted. “Since becoming an MP, I’ve rented an apartment in Wellington rather than make the 200km round trip to Carterton,” she said.

The MP accommodation subsidy has been a source of controversy in the past, most notably in 2024 when prime minister Christopher Luxon was found to be claiming $52,000 against his mortgage-free apartment rather than living in Premier House. After initially claiming he was “entitled to the entitlements”, Luxon later vowed to pay back the money.

Christopher Luxon came under fire in 2024 for claiming the accommodation supplement on his Wellington apartment.

In 2009, Bill English paid back $32,000 and vowed to stop claiming a housing allowance after revelations that he’d claimed the accommodation subsidy on a home he owned in Karori.

In 2001, Labour minister Marian Hobbs and Alliance minister Phillida Bunkle were investigated by the auditor-general after claiming the subsidy despite both being enrolled in the Wellington electorate. Hobbs was the MP for Wellington Central. Both were ultimately cleared, with the report finding they had acted on advice from Parliamentary Services staff.

Last week, Stuff revealed minister Louise Upston had claimed a $52,000 per year subsidy to live in her own Wellington apartment while lifting the threshold for beneficiaries to claim an accommodation supplement.

Chris Hipkins said Labour “may well” campaign on making changes to the scheme. “Claiming an accommodation allowance when you’re not spending that money on accommodation is something that’s very, very hard to justify,” he told reporters at parliament on Tuesday. Luxon said any changes should be “at arm’s length” from politicians.

Foster’s Marsden Point-related shares

Andy Foster’s pecuniary interests register shows that he owns shares in Channel Infrastructure NZ Ltd. Formerly known as Refining NZ, Channel Infrastructure operates the Marsden Point fuel import terminal and previously ran the Marsden Point Refinery. It still owns the former refinery site. New Zealand First has pledged to reopen the oil refinery and establish a Special Economic Zone at Marsden Point. When asked if he thought it was ethical to own shares in a company that his party’s policies could directly influence, Foster seemed bewildered. “Ethical? I’m a backbencher. I don’t make the decisions.”

“I’ve owned the shares since last century. My father worked for the refining company and I believe in New Zealanders taking ownership stakes in New Zealand companies. It is, I can assure you, a very small holding,” he said.

Foster is the only MP who declared a direct ownership in Channel Infrastructure, though many other MPs likely own smaller stakes through managed investment funds.