8. CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) Link to this
to the Minister of Finance
Has he received any advice on whether the Government complied with the State Sector Act 1988 when engaging ministerial purchase advisers; if so, what was that advice?
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) Link to this
Yes. It is also worth noting that the Government is following Cabinet Office guidance on the use of purchase advisers. It was set out in 1993.
How can the Minister claim that the Government has complied with section 33 of the State Sector Act—which states that chief executives of a department must act independently when appointing individual employees—when the official briefing paper I have here from the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology reveals that he not only specified who was to be appointed but specified the rate at which they were to be paid?
Why is the Government refusing to release information on how much his little army of spies are being paid, or is he simply embarrassed that he has been caught out telling everybody else that they have to trim back their budgets while he himself splashes taxpayer money around to employ his own expensive political hacks?
Well, actually, I have released that information. I am happy to table it here. But I can tell that member that we have 30 fewer Beehive staff than Labour had, which equates to about $3 million less in salaries. I can also tell him that, so far, the purchase advisers have cost $137,000—less than a tenth of the cost of Labour’s hand-picked political hacks.
Mr SPEAKER
Hon Darren Hughes Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I am sorry; I was not sure whether the member was seeking to ask a supplementary question, or we were moving to the next question. The Minister made an offer to table information, then sat down—he has not tabled it.
Hon Darren Hughes Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. Was the Minister quoting from official documents?
I am perfectly happy to ask the Minister whether he was quoting from an official document. I did not see him with an official document in his hand.