3. GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam) Link to this
to the Minister of State Services
What guidance documents, if any, are Government departments and Ministers expected to use when making appointments to the boards of Crown-connected organisations?
Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister of State Services) Link to this
There are a number of documents, including the State Services Commission Board Appointment and Induction Guidelines, last revised in May 2007, and a number of Cabinet Office circulars.
Can the Minister confirm that the Government is observing the constitutional convention that no appointments are made to Crown boards in the 3 months prior to a general election, and therefore the date for the election this year must be 8 November unless a confidence vote is lost prior to that time?
I can confirm that the Government has adhered, and always will adhere, to that convention. But I would say that the cries from the National Party are more double standards on the part of National, and I would instance the appointment by the party of its front-man for anonymous donations, Robert Brown, from the Waitemata Trust that last election pumped $1.4 million into National Party coffers—the same Robert Brown who was appointed by National as chair of Transit New Zealand.
Louisa WallKia ora, Madam Speaker; tēnā koutou katoa. What evidence does the Minister have, on looking at recent appointments, that under a Labour Government the best person is appointed to the job?
I would say that the Labour Government is far more balanced when it comes to appointments than National ever was, and if any evidence is needed of that I would point to the recent appointments of former National Prime Minister Jim Bolger as head of KiwiRail, and today’s appointment of former National Minister Paul East as a governor to the board of Radio New Zealand.
If the Labour Government is so very balanced about the way it makes its appointments, can the Minister confirm that Mike Williams, the president of the Labour Party, was recently appointed to the board of the New Zealand Transport Agency—which brings the number of Government-appointed boards that he sits on to five, with an annual salary somewhere north of $140,000 a year—and is it true that Mr Williams gets so many appointments because the Prime Minister is sick of digging him out of trouble every time he opens his mouth, so the Government has to give him lots of jobs to keep him busy and to keep him quiet?
I can confirm that Mr Williams was appointed to the new transport agency, but not as chair—unlike the appointment of Mr McCully’s mate Mr Brown, who was appointed as chair to Transit under National, and who is the same man who fronts the Waitemata Trust.
Has the Minister, in fact, confirmed for the House today that the Government is following all of the constitutional requirements when it comes to making appointments, and that, therefore, the only possible election date now available to the Prime Minister is 8 November?
Is the Minister therefore suggesting that the Government is wilfully breaching the constitutional convention that no appointments are made to Crown boards in the 3 months prior to a general election, just as the Government has breached so many other constitutional conventions in its term of office, such as bipartisanship over electoral law reform and the ensuring of neutrality of the Public Service?
For a start, the member misstates, or misrepresents, the convention. In terms of the politicisation of things, I would note that the person who has most politicised things in the State services this year was Mr Brownlee in his attempt to politicise the appointment of Mr Rennie as State Services Commissioner.
Will the Minister confirm rumours that scores of Labour Party members around New Zealand are currently updating their CVs and sending them to Ministers in a desperate attempt to get positions on boards before the dying, desperate, out-of-touch Government finally kicks the bucket; and can he tell us whether the Government will beat the record it set last month with 43 appointments in just 4 days?