9 Dec 2010

Pansy Wong defends husband over travel

5:10 pm on 9 December 2010

National MP Pansy Wong is rejecting claims her husband has withheld information from the inquiry into her taxpayer funded travel.

Information was produced in Parliament on Wednesday contradicting what Sammy Wong told an investigation into his travel.

The inquiry into the couple's travel on Mrs Wong's parliamentary perks cleared them of any systematic abuse of the system.

However on Wednesday, Labour MP Pete Hodgson told Parliament of information from a website that talks about Mr Wong accompanying former prime minister Dame Jenny Shipley at the launch of a biotechnology company during a 2005 trip.

Mr Wong told the inquiry that trip was to trace family genealogy.

Pansy Wong says she and her husband are both long term friends of the company director, Professor Gao, and Mr Wong was invited to attend the launch in that capacity.

"My husband has (sic) no business interests with Professor Gao or the Alpha Group at that time."

Mr Hodgson says the latest information lends more weight to Labour's call to refer the matter to the Auditor-General.

Mrs Wong, the MP for Botany, resigned as a Cabinet minister in November.