Jamie Arbuckle, the Marlborough councillor who became an MP, says he has settled into having two roles so comfortably he’s going to keep both salaries after all.
There’s been a lot of video calls from his office in Wellington, but it’s meant he’s made it to most of the meetings at the Marlborough District Council since being elected to Parliament as an NZ First MP in October.
At the time, he said he felt juggling the two roles would be easy enough until Christmas 2023, and said he would hand his council remuneration back after that, should he feel he could not give the job his all.
But, for now, he said he was keeping up and did not feel that was necessary.
Way back in the day that was normal because holding an elected position was considered volunteer work and didn’t pay very well at all. You can either have it that way or you get career politicians.