Dean Jacqui: Governor-General Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Dean Jacqui: Governor-General Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:668;Page:14791] 
JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki) 
: 
 The Governor-General Bill seeks to repeal and replace Part 1 of the Civil List Act 1979 with some updated financial arrangements that are concerned with the Governor-General’s salary and things like allowances for the travel expenses of the Governor-General and the Administrator of the Government. This bill would make the financial arrangements for the support of the Governor-General and his or her programme more transparent and simpler to administer. It also intends to remove the tax exemption from the Governor-General’s salary. This will not affect the constitutional position of the Governor-General. 
In speaking to Part 1 during this Committee stage I note that clause 5 provides for the payment to the Governor-General of a salary at a rate determined by the Remuneration Authority with the proviso that the salary of the Governor-General must not be reduced during the Governor-General’s term of office. The bill also provides in clause 6 for the payment to the Governor-General of an allowance for official expenses which is to be set at a fixed rate by Order in Council. Those provisions are contained in Part 1 clauses 5 and 6. Noting that the rate for the allowance may be changed up or down and noting the important position that the Governor-General has in New Zealand society we consider that the allowance for official expenses is well covered in this bill. Clause 7 in Part 1 provides for the payment of a gross lump sum to a person who ceases to hold office as Governor-General which is to be equivalent to the gross salary payable for the last 6 months that the person held office. That is provided for in clause 7. 
Clause 8 in Part 1 provides for the payment of an annuity to a person who has held office as Governor-General at a yearly rate determined by the Remuneration Authority. The annuity is payable from the date 6 months after the person ceased to hold office. Clause 9 is interesting and was a not contentious but well-discussed part of the bill. It provides that if a Governor-General dies after ceasing to hold office the surviving spouse or partner of that person must be paid an annuity at half the yearly rate at which an annuity would have been payable to the person under clause 8—the clause I have just described—if that person had not died. However if a Governor-General dies while holding office the bill provides that the surviving spouse or partner of the Governor-General must be paid an annuity at half the yearly rate at which the annuity would have been payable to that person under clause 8 had he or she resigned from the office on the date of death. 
Moving on to clause 10 in Part 1 the bill provides for compensation to be paid where the superannuation rights of a person appointed to the office of Governor-General or the superannuation rights of a spouse or partner of that person are adversely affected because of the appointment and where an appointee has entered into a written agreement with the Minister of Finance before taking up the office of Governor-General for such compensation to be paid. 
I just note at this point that although Part 1 might seem to be slightly dry in nature it is very important— 
Chris Hipkins 
: Oh no! 
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: It’s exciting! 
JACQUI DEAN 
: —it is important to the members of the Government Administration Committee I can assure those members—because it underlines the purpose of this bill which is to bring up to date conditions relating to the remuneration of the Governor-General and other conditions of that office. With those few words of contribution I commend this stage of the bill to the Committee.