EDITORIAL: We dislike the taste of waste | Hawkes Bay News | Local News in Hawkes Bay

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule may well be quietly thanking Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully for putting some perspective on the issue of credit card expenditure on flashy meals.

Mr Yule's $1571 London dinner for nine looks a lot less silver-spooned when compared to Mr McCully's $2855 repast for a group reported to have numbered more than 10 in Auckland.

The expensive items on Mr McCully's bill were four Ata Rangi Pinot Noir bottles, costing a total $740, three oysters plates for a total of $156, and bread for $230.

Someone must really like bread.

Mr McCully's guests were a party from the International Rugby Board.

They are no doubt accustomed to being treated to the best and the taxpayer, to some degree, has to swallow the expense of hosting visiting movers and shakers.

The $2855 spend-up at Kermadec is, however, a bit too rich for our liking. Even if Mr McCully was paying for 15 diners, that's a touch more than $190 per person.

The dinner he - or more accurately, we - shouted for seven people, including the Tongan Prime Minister, at Soul Bar in Auckland for $747.50 was a bit more like it. At $106 per person, we are sure it was more than tasty enough and your average taxpayer would have been glad of a seat at the table.

Mr Yule has been taking a bit of a pounding at the court of public opinion for the dinner he shouted in London but, compared to Mr McCully's nearly $3000 nosh-up, the Hastings mayor is not looking too bad.

We are not apologists for unnecessary or extravagant expenditure on the public purse but some people seem to be forgetting that London is a far, far more expensive city than anywhere in our part of the world.

Mr Yule's dinner, which was for people who had been working for Hawke's Bay at the Opportunities NZ Expo, rounds out at $155 per diner, if you discount the almost-mandatory tip.

They probably could have dined out less expensively - but it would not have been by much. For, as a letter to the editor today describes, London is a city where the meter is always on high rotate.

The best thing to come out of all these expenditure disclosures is public scrutiny. Mayors, MPs, Prime Ministers alike must account for every dollar spent on our behalf because we are watching - and we do not like the taste of waste.