Winston Peters defends Shane Jones’ travel cost blowout, says budget was ‘low’

Friday, 19 June 2026

ThreeNews reveals Minister Shane Jones spent $63,000 on a taxpayer-funded trip to a Canadian mining conference, nearly double the cabinet-approved budget of $33,000, including luxury business-class flights and a private limousine service.

Prior booking: Travel records reveal Shane Jones’ $40,000 business class flights to Toronto were locked in two weeks before he sought Cabinet approval for a cheaper premium economy budget.

The overspend: The total cost of the Canadian mining trip hit $63,019, nearly doubling the initial $33,068 budget authorised by Cabinet.

Minister’s defence: Jones called the situation “some sort of cock-up” that was later corrected, while NZ First leader Winston Peters defended the spending, saying the original budget was too low.

Coalition friction: Finance Minister Nicola Willis publicly rebuked the overspend, stating she takes spending limits “extremely seriously”, prompting Jones to respond: “Provoke the matua at your peril.”

NZ First leader Winston Peters says there is nothing his party needs to apologise for after Shane Jones spent almost double his budget travelling to an overseas convention, claiming the budget was too low.

Stuff revealed on Thursday that Jones’ business class flights to Toronto were booked before he sought Cabinet approval for cheaper ones.

Shane Jones at the PDAC International Ministers of Mines Summit in Canada in 2025.

An invoice obtained by Stuff shows two return Qantas business class flights were booked through Capital Travel for $20,277, plus fees and taxes, each. The invoice is dated February 7, 2025.

But a Cabinet paper shows Jones’ travel wasn’t approved by Cabinet until a fortnight later, on February 24, 2025.

Jones took a paper to Cabinet that week seeking approval for a trip to the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention. Jones’ Cabinet paper sought a budget of $33,068 - including $15,600 for two premium economy return flights. But by that point, over $40,000 had already been spent on business class flights.

The total cost of the trip was nearly double the approved budget, coming in at $63,019.12.

“To the best of my knowledge, there was some sort of cock-up with the original booking, and then it was corrected, and by the time they corrected it, there must have been a change in the cost structure of the trip,” Jones told Stuff on Thursday.

Winston Peters said the budget for Jones’ travel was “low”. (File photo)

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As Stuff first reported, the extra spend had officials chasing an explanation until nearly a year later when the prime minister’s office retrospectively approved the budget blowout in February this year.

His leader Winston Peters has jumped to his defence saying the initial budget was too low.

Shane Jones attending the world's largest mining conference in Canada in 2025.

“When I saw that, actually, I couldn't believe that it was so low. So, what you've got is normalcy in this case, and there's nothing for us to apologise here for.”

Jones travelled to Toronto to attend the mining conference and told Cabinet he would promote New Zealand as a high quality place to do business and engage with politicians, businesses and investors on the Government’s new minerals strategy and fast-track approvals process.

A post-trip report says Jones met with the CEOs of OceanaGold, which runs the Macraes and Waihī mines and RuaGold, which runs the Reefton and Hauraki Goldfields. He also held meetings with Canadian politicians.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins says Jones is not “walking the talk” of a government which is preaching fiscal restraint.

“They're telling everybody else to tighten their belts and make do with less, and Shane Jones is living it up large around the world. He’s not living up to the expectations that his own government are creating of other people.”

Leaders Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon share contrasting views on Minister Shane Jones keeping a limousine on standby, as well as potential structural changes to how political pay and allowances are independently reviewed.

Most of the extra expense was due to the business class flight, however the accommodation bill came in at $13,397.52 - nearly $4000 more than budgeted. Meals for two for five days totalled only $301.09, when $2200 was budgeted, so some of the dining may have taken place at the hotel.

Ground transport proved a major blowout - the approved budget was $500, but Jones hired a private limousine from Jassi Limousine Services for a total of C$3791.15.

The limo driver was kept on standby for a total of 24 hours across three days.

The final cost for a combination of ground travel, roaming and service fees was nearly $6000.

Peters says booking a limo is OK as long as you use it ”to the max”.

“Well, I got to know what the whole agenda was, and what the programme was, and how quickly he had to be in places, and how many meetings he had.”

He said what really mattered was “not what the limo was there for, but what did he do to get to make sure that the limo was used to the max”.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it “genuine was an administrative error”.

“I don't expect it to happen again,” he said.

But Finance Minister Nicola Willis was not so circumspect

“Put it this way, when I go to Cabinet and seek approval for my budgets for international travel, I take that spending limit extremely seriously, as does my office,” she said.

“You should never exceed what Cabinet grants you in terms of your travel budget, and I think this reflects significant errors on the part of the minister and his office.”

Jones replied with his own warning: “Provoke the matua at your peril.”