Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:617;Page:12911] 
1. GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
 to the  
Minister of Police 
: Does he stand by his answers to written questions 9586 (2003) and 13029 (2003) and his response to an Official Information Act request to the Office of the Leader of the Opposition dated 8 December 2003 all asserting that neither he nor any member of his staff had any communications with any member of the New Zealand Police regarding police actions against Shane Ardern MP; if not why not? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 Yes I have not had any dealings with the prosecution of Shane Ardern. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Can the Minister confirm that amongst the police files released yesterday there are three instances of communications between his office and the police on this matter and worse that those communications make it clear that they are part of a series of communications which he has previously denied in answers to parliamentary questions and a response under the Official Information Act; if that is not the case what is his explanation for the clear trail in the papers tabled yesterday? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: No communication from my office dealt with Shane Ardern’s case. However staff did let the police know of an attack on the integrity of a police officer by the Hon Murray McCully that had nothing to do with the Shane Ardern prosecution. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: Can the Minister give an undertaking to the House that the police will release all correspondence on the matter; if he cannot give that undertaking why not? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Yesterday afternoon I tabled in the House the Official Information Act requests from Shane Ardern and from the National Party. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That was a specific question: will he give an undertaking to release all correspondence on the matter from the police? He did not answer that question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I wonder whether the Minister could expand just a little bit further. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I have released the information that has been given to me. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Is the Minister certain that all the paper trail all the telephone logs and all the emails that passed between his office and the police in relation to Mr Ardern’s file and case have been notified to him and there is nothing left that he should release? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I have released everything the police gave to me yesterday afternoon plus there were some newspaper clippings that went to the police—but they were only newspaper clippings. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That was a very very specific question that frankly was avoided by the Minister. The fact is that from the papers released there was clearly other correspondence and other communications. We simply asked him whether he believes that everything that took place has been placed on the table. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No I thought the Minister did address the question satisfactorily. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Will the Minister—in light of yesterday’s revelations which leave serious doubts as to the “other powers and agendas” that caused Mr Ardern to be singled out for special treatment—now release all the communications between himself his office his staff and the police on this matter? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: All the information that I have and know of I tabled yesterday afternoon. The police have prosecution files. I do not get involved in individual cases—never have never will. This is all about keeping the heat off Simon Power and Don Brash and his nuclear policies. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Does the Minister accept that the serious questions raised by papers released yesterday coupled with widespread knowledge that he Inspector Marty Grenfell and his police adviser former Superintendent Gerry Cunneen had their own little Bellamy’s breakfast club—[ 
Interruption 
] Shall I start again? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Yes please start again. I am warning members. That is the warning. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Does the Minister accept that the serious questions raised by papers released yesterday coupled with the widespread knowledge that he Inspector Marty Grenfell and the Minister’s police adviser former Superintendent Gerry Cunneen had their own little Bellamy’s breakfast club leave serious doubts in the minds of the public that can be resolved only by a full and complete disclosure on his part; or is he simply taking the “Dalziel option” at this point? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The first part of the question can be answered. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Inspector Marty Grenfell worked for me. He stopped working for me on 23 September 2002 and I have not had breakfast or any other meal with him since then. Perhaps if that member chose to listen he would know that I do not get involved. However I want to read from an email sent from my office which says: “The Minister’s press secretary has advised me on Global News which also feeds Newstalk networks that Murray McCully National MP has said that Marty Grenfell who is a police officer involved in the Shane Ardern matter is also the same Inspector Marty Grenfell who has been seen having breakfast with George Hawkins and also worked from the office of George Hawkins during the ‘paintergate’ affair.” That is a longbow and it was a long long time ago. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I refer to some questions that were raised earlier by Mr Shirley and also by myself. Quite clearly in quoting from that email and choosing to call it to the attention of the House Mr Hawkins leaves open the question of what the conversation was that caused him and his office to send it to the police when we know they have a communications unit that monitors all this stuff. Quite clearly there are documents not yet released. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is a point of debate; not a point of order. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I have not had breakfast with that man and all this is is a slur on the integrity of a police officer. I have not had breakfast with Inspector Grenfell and I am not involved in any slur on the police. The National Party might be. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That is not a point of order. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is why I did not regard it as such. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: But we heard the whole thing out did we not? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Yes because I did not know where it was going. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: He could have asked for a personal explanation or made a ministerial statement instead of wasting the House’s time. I object to the two old tired parties thinking they dominate this House and they do not. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I do not think that anybody listening to members in the House would ever think that was absolutely correct Mr Peters particularly as far as you are concerned. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: What confidence does the Minister expect the public to have in police decision-making neutrality when an absolutely hopeless case was brought against Shane Ardern MP and no case was brought for a self-confessed forgery on the part of the Prime Minister? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The police make those decisions and they make them away from the influence of any political party or politician. I have the utmost confidence in the New Zealand police although some members opposite seem to want to bag them.