11 extra MPs set to add $5.5 million to first-year parliamentary costs

Preliminary election results show the New Zealand Parliament will likely expand by 11 seats, a change that will add at least $5.5 million to first-year government spending. This increase stems from the overhang, a feature of the mixed-member proportional voting system where parties win more electorate seats than their party vote allows.

National Party candidates have secured seven additional overhang seats, while Te Pāti Māori has won four. Under the current preliminary count, the standard 120-member House of Representatives will grow to 131 members.

Victoria University associate professor Barbara Allen calculated the per-mp cost based on the 2026 Speaker's Determination. For a non-ministerial list member, the first-year package includes a salary of roughly $180,000. This is supplemented by a staff allocation of $25,818 and a non-staff allocation of $62,145. Members also receive a basic expense allowance of $19,300, $10,400 for IT hardware, and $13,682 for one-time staff IT costs. These figures total approximately $500,000 per member.

Multiplying that figure by the 11 additional members yields the estimated $5.5 million increase. Allen noted that this calculation excludes other potential allowances. She also pointed to party funding rules, which provide $26,500 per caucus member. This specific amount is tied to party operations rather than the individual MP's personal expenses.

Beyond direct salaries, the government must locate physical office space for the new members. Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub observed that the average cost per MP has decreased slightly in recent years. In 2012, the average cost was nearly $750,000 in 2025 dollars. By 2025, that figure had fallen to less than $700,000.

Geoff Plimmer, associate dean of research at Victoria University's school of business and government, described the additional expenditure as trivial relative to the total annual government budget. He stated, "We need to pay our MPs reasonably well to get quality people." Plimmer suggested that fitting 131 members into the debating chamber might be challenging but not impossible, noting that members could share desks or hot-desk, similar to many public servants.

The next step involves the formal confirmation of these results and the subsequent allocation of resources to the new parliamentary offices.