We must be the number one country in the world for deferred maintenance.

Some of us do it with our own house. And we’ve certainly done it with Premier House.

To the point where Christopher Luxon won’t even live there - even though it’s the Prime Minister’s official residence.

We’ve learnt over the weekend that, to bring the place up to scratch, would cost about $30 million. But, in times like these, is that something you’d want taxpayer money poured into?

My answer to that question is ‘yes’!

The heritage people say Premier House property dates back to 1843 and it is of national significance. It was 1865 when it was bought by the Crown to be used as the Prime Minister’s residence when Wellington became the capital city.

There was some significant expansion of the place during the 1870s but the builders don’t appear to have been back since then.

Slight exaggeration there. But it’s a can that’s been kicked down the road many times and so, now, we’ve got our current Prime Minister saying he’d like to live there, but can’t live there because it needs significant maintenance work.

The Prime Minister, of course, is instead living in his own apartment in Wellington. Which was all over the news on Friday when it was discovered that he’d been claiming a $52,000 annual allowance for living at his own place.

But, by fish 'n' chip time on Friday, he’d had a re-think on that and - after going-on all day that he was fully entitled to it - he announced that he’d be paying back what he’s claimed so far and wouldn’t be claiming any more of it.

Which, of course, was the right thing to do. I know he was entitled. But it was wrong.

So that one’s sorted out. But we’ve still got the matter of what to do with Premier House and whether we keep kicking this particular can down the road or whether we bite the bullet and spend the money.

For me, it’s a no-brainer. We have to spend the money. Because, if we don’t get out of this oily rag mentality that seems to be taking over everywhere - we’ll be selling Premier House as is, where is.

In the scheme of things, $30 million is chicken feed. And, yes I know that if the Government did agree to press on with the maintenance and renovation work needed, it could end up costing more than that.

But, if we’re going to get all embarrassed about our leaders flying around the world in clapped-out air force planes, then we should be just as embarrassed about having an official Prime Minister’s residence that the Prime Minister won’t even live in.

More to the point, we should be embarrassed about a rundown prime minister’s residence that the Prime Minister himself won’t even live in, but where visiting dignitaries stay and where other guests are entertained. The Australia and New Zealand cricket teams were there last week.

Now I know buildings don’t feed kids going to school hungry. And I know buildings don’t make it cheaper to go to the dentist. Things that are also in the news today.

And I know $30 million could pay for a truckload of medical procedures and hip replacements. I get all that.

But are any of those reasons not to spend money on Premier House? I don’t think they are.

Because we will always be short of money for all the things we want to do. Which is why Premier House is in the state it’s in now. Because, for too long, politicians have been terrified of any backlash.

And so they’ve all sat on their hands and done nothing - or the bare minimum, anyway - and now they’re sitting on a real conundrum because we’ve allowed it to get so rundown that we are now faced with the question - do we spend $30 million or not?

I say it’s a no-brainer. Spend the $30 million and get the official residence of our country’s Prime Minister up to scratch. And do it ASAP because, we can wait as long as we like, but it will never get cheaper.

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