Oral Questions

1. to the Minister of Finance: Does he have responsibility for the Government’s consideration and response to the Tax Working Group report?

As a member of Cabinet, I am one of the Ministers responsible.

💬 Hon Amy Adams: He can’t give a straight answer to anything.

💬 SPEAKER: Order! Was that the member who interjected or was it someone else?

💬 Hon Amy Adams: I did interject.

💬 SPEAKER: Well, the member either wants to ask a supplementary or she is going to object. When the Minister finishes his answer she takes the choice.

💬 Hon Amy Adams: Why is Sir Michael Cullen to be paid more than $1,000 a day of taxpayer funds to engage in political debate for four months after the Tax Working Group has been disbanded, including two months after the Government will have announced its own position?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Sir Michael has had his contract extended because it’s necessary to respond to all of the misrepresentation and lies about the report.

💬 Hon Amy Adams: Has he seen the remarks from former Labour Party chief of staff Neale Jones that Dr Cullen wading into the political debate over capital gains tax isn’t helpful and that Dr Cullen’s comments are highly political?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: No, I haven’t seen those comments, but I am aware of the last Tax Working Group in 2010 set up by the previous Government where, several weeks after that was released, the chair of it, Mr Bob Buckle, was making a number of comments in the media.

💬 Hon Amy Adams: Was any thought given, then, to extending the contracts of any of the dissenting members of the Tax Working Group to help inform the debate? [Interruption]

💬 SPEAKER: Order! Yes, the member knows exactly who was—if I can hear the member from here he must have been making a very loud noise, Mr Woodhouse.

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Sir Michael is the chair of the working group. It’s appropriate that his term is extended.

💬 Hon Amy Adams: Is it appropriate that Treasury officials were used to send out a press release from Sir Michael Cullen on Monday evening attacking the Opposition, and Treasury officials were provided as the media point of contact for follow-ups?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Those officials are the secretariat for the Tax Working Group.

💬 Hon Amy Adams: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. That’s a useful statement, but the question was about the appropriateness of Treasury officials being used in that way. To simply state that, I don’t think addresses the question.

💬 SPEAKER: And the Minister will answer it again. I think if he added—all he has to do is add one word to it.

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I’m not a person to only add one word when you give me an opportunity. The officials who sent out the press release are those who have worked as the secretariat of the Tax Working Group. It’s appropriate for people who are the secretariat of the working group to work as the secretariat of the working group.

💬 Hon Amy Adams: Was Treasury instructed by either Sir Michael Cullen, the Minister, or his office to send out a political press release attacking the National Party?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: No. Sir Michael Cullen is the chair of the Tax Working Group and he’s responding to the misinformation being spread about the report.

💬 Rt Hon Winston Peters: Is the Government’s position that the public should first be consulted from one end of the country to the other—business and workers and unions, the whole country—as a proper way of consultation, rather than opening one’s mouth and letting the wind blow one’s tongue around?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: It’s very important that we listen to the views of New Zealanders. One of those views was a farmer who I saw on TVNZ last night, who was one of the few people to attend a meeting that Nathan Guy organised, and when he was asked whether or not income should all be taxed the same, he couldn’t answer, he said, because he might get in trouble with the National Party.

💬 Hon Amy Adams: Isn’t having Treasury officials send out Sir Michael Cullen’s political press releases after the working group has been disbanded just another example of the politicisation of the Public Service that’s happening under that Government?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: No, it’s an example of a Treasury official having access to a computer and sending out the words of Sir Michael Cullen.

💬 Hon Amy Adams: Has he had any advice or contact from the State Services Commission about Sir Michael Cullen’s Monday press release sent out by Treasury?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: No. [Interruption]

💬 SPEAKER: Order! Come on.

Question time interrupted.