Estimates Debate — Vote State Services

When we look at the State Services Commission we see the mess we have in the public service. I just want to reflect on a little bit of the con job that has been pulled on the New Zealand public on the state of our State sector.

Harry Duynhoven and the Labour Party promised, after the honest speech by Don Brash at Ōrewa about the state of race relations in New Zealand and the waste of the public sector, that they would fix all of that. They promised that all the politically correct nonsense that goes on through the State sector would be gone. They would end any issues around public money being wasted. I would like to know from Harry Duynhoven why he supported the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service spending—

💬 Hon Harry Duynhoven: Because someone had to clean up the mess National had made.

What about the $6,600 that was spent on Pacific Island training days in the flashest hotel in Auckland? Harry Duynhoven has interjected that that would help the leaky-home owners. Would he explain to me why $6,600 was spent on hula dancing and kava drinking. That is the sort of politically correct nonsense that Mr Duynhoven and Labour support. It is extraordinary. Mr Duynhoven is getting all excited. I would like him to explain why the State Services Commission is allowing public servants to have Cowboys and Indians parties, Sound of Music parties—

💬 Hon Harry Duynhoven: They paid for them themselves.

The member said they paid for them themselves. Well, who paid for the drink? The taxpayer. Who paid for the food? The taxpayer. Who paid for the flights? The taxpayer. Who paid for the accommodation? [Interruption]

I think that was the member who made a big deal about Tuku Morgan’s $89 underwear. Was that the same member? [Interruption] He did. I ask Mr Duynhoven why $89 spent on underwear by Tuku Morgan is a big deal, when the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service spent $6,600—that is, $493 per person—on an all-day session on Pacific Island training. Why does he not explain it to me? Why do Weathertight Homes Resolution Service staff need Pacific Island training? Could the member opposite explain that to me? It is sickly political correctness. It shows how rotten the public service is under this Government. It shows why the public should vote the Government out, and why they will do so. It is a mess.

If I have been able to find that whole series of parties within the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service, how many other Government agencies are having Pacific Island training days? If it is good enough for those who are fixing rotten homes, I assume the State Services Commission is also having such training. Is the Ministry of Education? How many other agencies are spending money on hula dancing and kava drinking parties?

💬 Hon Harry Duynhoven: It’s shocking.

It is absolutely shocking, and I am yet to receive any apology or any explanation.

Let me tell members why it matters. It matters because people have taken their own lives over the tragedy of leaky homes. There are people whose marriages have broken down. There are hundreds of people facing bankruptcy while George Hawkins has been in charge of this agency. What have we heard from George Hawkins? Is George Hawkins happy, as the Minister in charge of this portfolio area, that taxpayers’ money—$6,600—has been spent on kava drinking and hula dancing at the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service?

What has taken place within the public service is a disgrace. There is waste all over the place. The level of waste within the public service is a total disgrace. Have we heard any explanation from the Government as to why $1.3 billion of public money has been spent on tertiary education courses that people did not attend? That is the sort of level of waste that has gone on under this Government.

When the Minister of State Services was put on the ropes as to why there had been that awful blowout in Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, and the waste in that agency, do members know what he said? He said it was Nick Smith’s fault. Well, that was a good line. I have never been the Minister in charge of tertiary education—never ever. When National left Government, the wānanga got $3.4 million, and Labour grew that to $243 million last year. Where was the State Services Commission? Where was Trevor Mallard when all that waste was going on?

Whether we look at education, at health, at the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service, or at any one of the huge range of Government agencies, we see that the waste that is taking place is something extraordinary. There is a culture of extravagance within this Government that will mean voters will give it the message in 52 days’ time.

Just what has the State Services Commission been doing? If it had been checking, the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service might have been doing its job. We know from the statistics that 3 years after it was promised that the resolution service would provide a quick and cost-effective solution for those poor homeowners, only 10 percent of claims—only 300 claims—have been resolved. Do members know at what cost?

💬 Hon Harry Duynhoven: And which Minister presided over that mess?

George Hawkins. He is right here; hopefully, he will take a call. George Hawkins has presided over the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service disaster. This Government allows public servants to have parties—all sorts of parties—while people’s homes rot. What have we heard from George Hawkins?

💬 Jill Pettis: We don’t approve of those kinds of parties.

Oh! Jill Pettis says she does not approve. Well, why did the Government official say yesterday that there had been no waste? Mr Nigel Bickle, the head of the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service, says there has been no waste. I ask Jill Pettis whether that is the Government position.

💬 Jill Pettis: We don’t like waste.

Oh! She says the Government does not like waste. Well, what is it going to do about it? Nothing—absolutely nothing.

What we have is a public service out of control. We have the Government saying in this Parliament that it does not think those sorts of parties are very good. In fact, I think we heard the Minister say that the situation was absurd. Yet we have the head of the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service saying it is all OK and there has been no waste. It shows a public service completely out of control—public servants think it is OK to have kava drinking and hula dancing parties during work time at the expense of $493 per staff member. They think that is OK—such is the culture within the State sector.

Well, I have to say to the public of New Zealand that help is on the way. National is going to make sure that public money is spent properly—not on singalong courses, not on twilight golf, not on hula dancing and kava drinking, not on Cowboys and Indians parties. We are going to ensure that public money is spent where it should be spent. It will be spent on the services that matter—that is, on doctors, nurses, and providing New Zealanders with some police so we can have law and order. We will put the emphasis—

💬 Jill Pettis: 10 in Nelson, 10 in Wanganui?

Absolutely! Jill Pettis already knows our policy. She knows we will provide front-line police, so New Zealanders can be safe. We are going to end the culture of extravagance and waste, because New Zealanders have had enough.