METIRIA TUREI
Mr SPEAKERWill members show the Green Party member some modicum of respect as she seeks to ask a question. [ Interruption] The member happens to be in the Opposition. That is why I am particularly focused on Opposition members who are making it difficult for her to ask a question.
My apologies for doing this to you this afternoon, but I seek your guidance on a matter that has not yet been dealt with in this—the forty-ninth—Parliament. I lodged this particular, specific question to the Minister of Māori Affairs this morning because of the specific responsibility of that Minister to advocate for and to uphold Māori participation in public policy issues. It is an issue that is directly a part of his responsibilities. It relates to and impinges on his ministerial responsibility, and it is certainly well within the strict matters of Māori affairs, as Mr Gerry Brownlee set out earlier. However, the question was transferred to another Minister. I know that the previous Government—as we have already discussed—did this on a very regular basis in the previous Parliament, to the great frustration of many members of this House. I am concerned that the National Government is treating this as a precedent, given that the previous Government did it, too.
I would like some indication from you about what right members of Parliament have on behalf of the public to hold a member of the executive to account for the responsibilities of an issue specifically concerning that Minister’s ministerial area and to get an answer from that Minister on those issues. I am very concerned that today’s decision and, indeed, the discussion we have just had looks very much like the Minister of Māori Affairs is being actively constrained from answering such questions. I would very much appreciate your advice on this matter.