Melissa Lee and Jenny Salesa used taxpayer-funded entitlements to buy and stay in own homes

MPs can receive up to $36,240 every year in superannuation contributions, and use the money to buy property. Then they can claim another $36,400 per year to stay in it.

National MP Melissa Lee and Labour MP Jenny Salesa bought homes through a special superannuation scheme, eligible for generous taxpayer-funded contributions, then claimed a taxpayer-funded accommodation allowance on them.

The long-serving MPs and former ministers used two entitlements, which allow them to claim as much as $72,640 per year, toward the cost of buying and staying in their own Wellington apartments. As backbench MPs, Lee and Salesa will earn a salary of $181,200 this year, after a pay increase on July 1, plus have access to a $19,300 basic expense account.

The accommodation supplement

As non-Wellington MPs, Lee and Salesa are entitled to claim up to $36,400 per year towards the “actual and reasonable” cost of accommodation while they are in Wellington on parliamentary business. Ministers can claim up to $52,000.

Salesa confirmed to The Spinoff that she bought a Wellington apartment in 2017. She stays in it when in the capital to attend parliament and she claims the maximum accommodation allowance against it. There is a mortgage on the apartment. Lee did not respond to a request for comment but records show she purchased a Wellington apartment in 2016 and claims the maximum accommodation supplement. She also owns another property, and has a mortgage with ANZ.

Many other MPs claim the accommodation subsidy on homes they own, including Louise Upston, Todd Stephenson, Kieran McAnulty, and Andy Foster – who was the mayor of Wellington and has owned a house in the capital for 26 years.

The superannuation scheme

Parliament has an extremely generous superannuation scheme for MPs. For every dollar they contribute to their retirement savings, their employer (funded by the taxpayer) contributes $2.50. If MPs put in at least $14,496 per year they can claim the maximum employer contribution of $36,240 per year, after their pay increase on July 1.

MPs can put these retirement contributions into any superannuation scheme they choose, or they can create their own private superannuation scheme to manage themselves. These private schemes have a special power: they can be used to buy real estate.

A handful of MPs have taken up this benefit: Labour leader Chris Hipkins owns a holiday home in Paraparaumu through his scheme, while National minister Erica Stanford has a rental in Christchurch and former longstanding National MP Judith Collins has one in Nelson and one in Wellington.

Salesa owns her Wellington apartment through her private MP superannuation scheme, which she named Kaha’u. She told The Spinoff it “operates in accordance with Parliamentary rules”. Lee did not respond to a request for comment but records show her apartment is owned by her private fund, Chul Ssinjin Superannuation Scheme.

By combining the superannuation scheme with the housing subsidy, a backbench MP can get as much as $72,640 per year on top of their salary towards the cost of buying and living in their own home, while a minister can get as much $88,240.

The electorate offices

In 2025, Parliamentary Services paid $27,540 to rent Salesa’s electorate office, and $15,740 to rent Lee’s office. This is normal – the government pays to hire premises so that people can get access to their local MPs. What’s different is that the owners of Salesa and Lee’s offices are, respectively, the Labour Party and the National Party.

Neither Salesa or Lee benefit personally from this arrangement, but it goes in the parties’ coffers. The Labour Party owns four of its MPs’ electorate offices, while National owns six.

There is currently only one MP who personally owns their electorate office: prime minister Christopher Luxon, whose Botany office costs the taxpayer $45,000 per year, the most expensive of any publicly declared lease. Luxon bought the property for $968,500 in March 2020; shortly after he was selected as the National candidate for the safe seat of Botany, but before he had been elected. In total, the taxpayer has paid more than $250,000 to Luxon to rent his property. He told Stuff in 2022 he was “very comfortable” with the arrangement.