A man is reflected in a car window as he looks at the moon one day ahead of the Supermoon phenomenon from a bridge over 42nd St. in the Manhattan borough of New York
A man is reflected in a car window as he looks at the moon one day ahead of the Supermoon phenomenon from a bridge over 42nd St. in the Manhattan borough of New York July 11, 2014. Occurring when a full moon or new moon coincides with the closest approach the moon makes to the Earth, the Supermoon results in a larger-than-usual appearance of the lunar disk. Reuters/Stringer

New Zealand government’s purchase of a swanky NZ$11 million pent house apartment in New York has kicked up a controversy back home, with opposition up in arms against the “extravagance” and unproductive spending. The posh three-bedroom apartment, with three bathrooms, is across the road from the UN's New York headquarters and overlooks the East River.

While the media was somewhat enthusiastic in playing it up as an example of the opulent style of the country’s UN representative, Gerard van Bohemen, New Zealand First Party leader and former foreign minister Winston Peters asked the media not to blame the diplomat but blame it on the ministers, responsible for it. Peters also flayed the media for running the pictures of Bohemen in the stories about the apartment.

Foreign Minister Blamed

"Our UN representative is simply doing his job," Peters said and noted that the men responsible for this unjustified spending are Foreign Minister Murray McCully and Finance Minister Bill English. He wondered why they are not being photo-imaged. The NZ First leader, while joining the chorus of opposition criticism of the purchase, added, "New Zealand doesn't need an apartment as a status symbol. There are many reasonable alternatives available... all would have been thoroughly acceptable."

The Labour party and Greens called it an unwise extravagance. "The neighbourhood is home to some of Hollywood's A-listers," said Labour's David Shearer. Green Party co-leader James Shaw called it wasteful spending and asid MFAT needs to front with why they bought this particular apartment and the process behind choosing it.

Ministry Clarifies

A foreign ministry spokesman justified the purchase and said the new apartment is a working space as well as residence. He said the layout will be used for diplomatic meetings and functions. The purchase was necessitated because of rising maintenance costs and the distance of the older residence from the UN building. The spokesman noted that New York property costs are high and growing and it was found that the purchase of a new property represented better value to the taxpayer than leasing out a property.

While MFAT painted it as a good deal hoping that the cost of the new apartment will be offset by the sale of the old apartment, now on the market, the opposition is in no mood to concede that. In total, MFAT owns 92 offshore properties and has 217 properties on lease.

Gerard van Bohemen moved to New York in February as country's permanent representative at the United Nations. Before that he was working as deputy secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in charge of multilateral and legal affairs. New Zealand’s profile at the UN has increased in significance after it became a non-permanent Security Council member. However, the tentative role has not stopped MFAT from spending a fortune in procuring a posh New York apartment to house its top diplomat.

(For feedback/comments, contact the writer at k.kumar@ibtimes.com.au)