Retirements — John Lindell O’Sullivan

I move, That this House express appreciation of the services given to members by John Lindell O’Sullivan, CNZM, LVO, upon his retirement as General Manager of the Parliamentary Service; note his long career in the public sector, particularly with the Department of Internal Affairs, where he became a Deputy Secretary; and convey to John and Annette O’Sullivan every best wish for the future. I know it is slightly outside the Standing Orders, but I would like to refer to the fact that Mr O’Sullivan is in the gallery, and I am sure I will be expressing the views of all members in moving that motion. Mr O’Sullivan has been the General Manager of the Parliamentary Service for some 10 years and before that, for over 30 years, he was in the Department of Internal Affairs. When he left that department he was responsible for matters such as citizenship, gaming, passports, racing, film censorship, civil defence, the arts, and culture. At the time when he joined the Parliamentary Service he was also responsible for local government and community affairs. Mr O’Sullivan was engaged in organising royal visits to this country in 1977 and 1981, which is how he became a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order. His service as General Manager to the Parliamentary Service led to him becoming a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in this year’s New Year’s Honours List.

As General Manager, John O’Sullivan has been responsible for the supervision of the enormous range of activities that go on in the Parliamentary Service, catering not only to all the staff here but also to the peculiarly diffuse, diverse, and difficult 120 select customers who are the prime customers for the services that he provides. Very few departments have to deal with such a wide range of prima donnas as the General Manager of the Parliamentary Service has to at all times. It is interesting that one or two members decided to interject straight away in that regard. We would all agree that John O’Sullivan has dealt with the demands placed upon him in an extraordinarily sensible and straightforward manner. As he said in his own farewell message, he has seen four general elections, an increase in the size of Parliament from 99 to 120 members, a new electoral system—MMP—being introduced, substantial development of resources for members and parliamentary parties, and the finishing off of refurbishment projects in the parliamentary complex. It has been an extraordinary period of time. I very much want to express my own personal thanks to John for the work he has done.

On behalf of the National Party, I want to join with the Deputy Prime Minister and to agree with the statements that he has made. One of the missions that John O’Sullivan had in his life as General Manager of the Parliamentary Service was to keep members of Parliament out of the media. I know he took it personally whenever that was not quite achieved. There were one or two occasions when, unfortunately, it did not happen. However, I know that he took that as a very serious part of his job. Indeed, I am sure I am not the only whip who had a phone call from Mr O’Sullivan from to time to time, saying he just wanted to draw my attention to an issue that I might want to debate with a particular person. I must say that was very helpful. In many instances it achieved the ambition Mr O’Sullivan had of not seeing us in the media.

One of the frustrations there was in dealing with Mr O’Sullivan was that when people raised a matter with him and they thought they were just starting to win, he would then remind them, of course, that the rules were not his rules but those of the Parliamentary Service Commission, of which I and others were members, and that it had made the jolly rules in the first place. I must say that that was always very frustrating. However, if I can say this again—in breaching the Standing Orders—I still think that John O’Sullivan was wrong not to agree with that rental car thing that, finally, I had to pay for myself. On behalf of the National Party and myself—and, indeed, I am sure all the members of the House—I conclude by saying that we wish John O’Sullivan very well in his retirement. We know we will see him around from time to time, anyway. He also has a number of projects that he wishes to undertake in his private life, and we hope that those all go very well for him and that he enjoys the time with his family, as he hopes to do.

On behalf of New Zealand First, my members would have me endorse the comments made by the Minister of Finance. We have to agree that the last 10 years have been years of enormous change. We went from first past the post to the precursor of MMP, which was a whole lot of desertions between 1993 and 1996 to other parties, and then on to an MMP environment. In all that time Mr O’Sullivan had to have dealt with—present company excepted—a great number of prima donnas, as the Minister of Finance said, and with unreasonable demands made from all quarters. Having to deal with the precedent set by various parties, particularly as that affected the other new parties coming on, could not have been easy.

We also have to say, though, we regret John O’Sullivan is going at a time when there are outstanding inquiries to do with the use of political funds by political parties. I do not want to say very much about that—it would be very churlish to do so—but I regret that John O’Sullivan will not be able to help the State Services Commission and the Serious Fraud Office to reach their final deliberations on that matter. Having said that—

💬 Hon Ken Shirley: It was already on.

Exactly, but members can see what I mean and the difficulties that John O’Sullivan has had to deal with. I know what my correspondence to the Serious Fraud Office states. However, I will get back to the point. During the last 10 years I do not think I can recall one public event to do with Mr O’Sullivan’s staff where there would have been a one-off complaint, and that is pretty important for somebody who has been the boss of an organisation. The second thing I can say is that in all of our dealings, although on many occasions we have not been happy with the decision that was reached, I think we were dealt with in a professional fashion. I want to thank John O’Sullivan for that, and to wish him all the very best in whatever he does in the future.

On behalf of the ACT party I would like to join with others and express our appreciation of the services given to members by John O’Sullivan. I have had considerable dealings with him, and have always found him to be very courteous, very diligent, and very considerate. I would certainly acknowledge his fierce loyalty in terms of the protection of the staff around Parliament Buildings, because they can get caught up in all sorts of difficult situations, and I believe that John O’Sullivan has been very consistent and very determined to protect the interests of staff. I do not believe that any training or previous experience—and I acknowledge John’s very distinguished career in the public service—could actually equip him for the job he has had as chief executive officer of the Parliamentary Service. Mention has been made of the “prima donnas” around this place, and as a governance body I think the Parliamentary Service Commission is a very difficult forum. Whether it is an appropriate governance body is an outstanding matter that needs to be addressed, because it must be incredibly hard to run what is essentially a department of State with a governance body like that. Although they make the rules for society, in many respects, and given the nature of the beast, legislators are possibly not very good at making the rules for themselves.

In summary, I would say that in his job John O’Sullivan really has been the meat and the mustard in a very squelchy sandwich. I believe that he has discharged his responsibilities very fairly, very diligently, and very thoroughly. Certainly, we would like to give him our best wishes for his retirement, and for the projects he has in mind.

On behalf of the Green MPs, I would like to join with other parties in the House to thank John for his enormous contribution, not just to Parliament but also to the public service. John has been in charge of Parliament at a time of great change. He ensured its smooth transition to MMP, which is no mean feat. Parliament is now more truly a House of Representatives, and John had to find room for all of us when that change took place. I appreciate all of the services, support, and advice he has given us in the Green Party since we came to Parliament. Jeanette Fitzsimons and I are especially grateful for John’s assistance after the 1999 election while we were waiting for the special votes to return us to Parliament, and for the way he helped our new MPs fit in at the time.

I have enjoyed working with John on the Parliamentary Service Commission, especially in sorting out the allowances and services for members of Parliament, and I make a commitment to him that we will continue to progress that after he has gone. I wish John well in his official retirement, and I say “official” because we will be continuing to see him around in his role of organising the 150th anniversary of Parliament. I was privileged to know John for many years before I came to this House, and in that regard I would like to acknowledge my appreciation of his support for Annette in her commitment to social justice causes. I wish them both well in their retirement.

I want to join with other members who have spoken in tribute to John O’Sullivan as he retires as the General Manager of the Parliamentary Service. On behalf of United Future, I want to say that we have appreciated his counsel, his assistance, and his practical view of things in coming to grips with the realities we faced in this Parliament. I, for one, am very grateful to him for his assistance at a personal level, as well, on many of those issues.

As has been said, John has been the face of Parliament in a managerial sense for the last decade, at a time when huge change has occurred. I appreciate the point that Mr Carter made about John’s wish that so many matters relating to the conduct of Parliament did not stray into the public arena. It seems to me that the lasting tribute to John’s stewardship as general manager will be the extent to which we have managed to get about our business in an often controversial, but quiet, way, without too many scandals coming to the public mind. There will always be the question of Mr Carter’s rental car and associated matters, but they are the exceptions now, rather than the rule. In earlier times, more serious incidents might have come more regularly into public contention than has been the case in the last 10 years. Members have appreciated a general manager who has had the interests of both the public and members in mind—individually and in respect of their parties, as well.

We will miss John O’Sullivan, but I am delighted that he will not be lost to us completely, because he has a huge talent and experience that we ought to be able to draw upon. I wish him well for his planned retirement, but I also express the hope—and I am sure Annette will forgive me for saying this—that we are able to draw on his expertise and services from time to time. John O’Sullivan is a man who has been in a unique position for the last 10 years. He has been a great general manager, and has set a high standard for his successor to follow—I wish him well, too, in that challenge—and I hope that he has a long, happy, and very fulfilled retirement.

The leader of the Progressive party has asked me to speak on behalf of the party. He, in particular, has had a long association with John O’Sullivan, and appreciates the assistance that he has been given as a leader in this Parliament. John O’Sullivan has overseen an enormous expansion of the services to members of Parliament in that time.

In a television programme well known in New Zealand, the fictional character Francis Urquhart coined the term: “You might very well say that; I couldn’t possibly comment.” I am told that that saying might have come from Mr O’Sullivan, and that he was possibly an inspiration for it.

John O’Sullivan has advised me that in his retirement he will be involved with community organisations. It has been suggested to me that the New Zealand Kindergarten Federation, in particular, is asking for the benefit of his experience, and I do not think that would reflect too badly on this Parliament. I am sure that Mr O’Sullivan will serve in community organisations wherever he is called to serve. As a Minister of Corrections, I was often told that it is a good idea to lock people up and throw away the key. I have never been in favour of that, but if there are any skeletons in his cupboards, in this case I am sure that throwing away the key would be a very good idea.

In the tributes paid, all of us have said that we have appreciated the professional way in which Mr O’Sullivan has assisted us in our work. I can assure the public of New Zealand that in the dealings my party has had, he has at all times looked after the interests of the public, as well as the interests of the members who serve in this Parliament.

Honourable members, I am going to take the unusual step of making just a couple of comments myself. I will say a few things later on, but, John, I want to say that I have been Speaker of this House now for 3½ years, and having two incredibly good chief executive officers—yourself and Dave McGee—has made my job a lot easier. The comment made by John Carter and other people was right. You have to deal with 120 people, all of whom have strong opinions, keen ambition, and sometimes a desire for a little bit more than they are entitled to.

I have always admired your professionalism and judgment, and I am going to miss having daily contact with you to discuss matters. Of course we would like you to carry on, but you have made your decision to go at this time, and I know you have discussed it with your wife Annette. I want to say congratulations on all the work you have done, and wish you all the best for your retirement.

Motion agreed to.