Turei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Turei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Sitting date: 20 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:8008. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
3. 
METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he stand by his reported statement that “anyone expecting details of a ‘cosy sort of little deal’ would be disappointed” by the Deputy Auditor-General’s report into the SkyCity Convention Centre negotiations? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Yes absolutely. The Deputy Auditor-General’s report examines all three stages of the process to date and concludes that the initial exploratory and feasibility stage which was the stage I was involved in and the third stage the current negotiations that the member is asking about were entirely appropriate. The report noted some procedural issues primarily that officials did not do enough planning which I understand the ministry has taken on board and that the assessment of the expression of interest process went on too long; however as the Deputy Auditor-General said in the report and made quite clear the substantive outcome would not be different. That is why the central finding of the report—and the basic accusation that that member has made and why she owes me an apology—is that there is no evidence to suggest that the final deal— 
Metiria Turei 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That answer went on far too long. It was a straightforward question. [ 
Interruption 
] It was a straightforward question. We on this side of the House were allowing time for the Prime Minister to answer in full but that I think undid the patience of the House. I would ask you to make sure he does not do it again. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: It undid the patience of the member I accept that. It was a very long answer. It was a very full answer. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. While the co-leader of the Greens was making her point of order three Government front-bench Ministers three in the second row and six backbenchers interjected—at least. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I thank the member for his assistance. As was mentioned yesterday points of order should be heard in silence. If they are not then we get the sort of disorder that we are experiencing today so I request the cooperation of all members for points of order to be heard in silence. 
Metiria Turei 
: Can the Prime Minister confirm that he made that statement hours before the Deputy Auditor-General released her report into the pokies for the convention centre deal? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: That may well be right. I cannot remember the exact time. It was probably Monday at my post-Cabinet press conference which takes place at about 4 o’clock. The report was released I think at 2 o’clock so I guess it was 22 hours. 
Metiria Turei 
: I seek leave to table a document a transcript of a Radio New Zealand interview— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No we are— 
Metiria Turei 
: —that is not publicly available. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: It is publicly available. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! The member will resume her seat. We discussed only yesterday when I elaborated on the tabling of documents that we are not tabling transcripts from radio interviews. They are freely available to members if members want to search for them. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: No they’re not. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Yes they are. 
Metiria Turei 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Is the member disputing my ruling because my patience is getting particularly thin today. 
Metiria Turei 
: Point of order Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Is the member disputing my ruling? 
Metiria Turei 
: No. Point of order Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Is the member about to dispute my ruling? 
Metiria Turei 
: No. Point of order Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Then I will hear the point of order. 
Metiria Turei 
: Yesterday you did clarify the tabling of documents. You did say that old reports could be tabled and that information that was not publicly available or widely publicly available could also be tabled. If you had given me the chance to explain this is a transcript that is not publicly available. Even if it was reported yesterday it still meets the criteria— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! Then the member—[ 
Interruption 
] Order! The member will resume her seat. The member is now disputing my ruling and if she continues to do that I will ask the member to leave the House. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! If the member continues—[ 
Interruption 
] Order! Otherwise we will be having somebody with early showers. The member is disputing my ruling. What I also said yesterday was that we would table documents that I feel are useful to the debate in the House. If members are keen enough to discover that transcript then they have the ability to go back to their offices and do so. I will not be putting the leave. 
Rt Hon John Key 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Just speaking to your ruling Mr Speaker that was a transcript of  
Morning Report 
 which will be available on the Radio New Zealand website. It is freely available everywhere. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: And so I have ruled. 
Chris Hipkins 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I do not want to litigate this specific issue. I would like to ask you Mr Speaker whether there was an opportunity for you to consider the wider issue of radio transcripts because in the case of radio transcripts it is often possible to purchase them. Ministers have them available because they can purchase them. Opposition members cannot purchase them and therefore we have to either have our staff transcribe them which is quite a resource-intensive exercise or once it has already been transcribed by someone get it from someone else. So can I ask you to consider it further— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: And I will consider it further for the benefit of the member and for the House. 
Metiria Turei 
: Is the Prime Minister aware that the Office of the Auditor-General expected that report to be treated in the strictest confidence because of concerns about market sensitivities and that no one other than Ministers Skycity and the Office of the Auditor-General had access to that report before 2 p.m. yesterday? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I am well and truly aware that there was an embargo but as we know—for instance last Friday I read reports of characterisation of Shane Jones’ Auditor-General’s report. The comments that I made of someone claiming a cosy sort of little deal are hardly market sensitive and as the member knows her basic accusation and claim to the Auditor-General was as follows—because maybe she needs reminding of it—that somehow the main question underlining the inquiry was whether the Government’s decision— 
Metiria Turei 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This is not an answer to my question. 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I did answer it directly— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The member is attempting to answer your question but if the member continues to ask questions and then rises to her feet through the answer she is not going to hear the answer to the question she has asked. 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: So continuing the main basis of the allegation made by the Greens—and that was the basis of the report to the Auditor-General—was whether the Government’s decision to negotiate with Skycity had been influenced by inappropriate consideration such as connections between political— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question concerns the propriety of the early leak by the Prime Minister of a confidential document. What he makes of the document has nothing to do with this. It is the act of leaking it in advance which we all know happened. He did not answer the question properly. 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Mr Peters has misled the House. I have not leaked any document. I ask him to withdraw and apologise. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Thank you. Does the member have further supplementary questions? 
Metiria Turei 
: Why did the Prime Minister repeatedly refer to the Deputy Auditor-General’s report over the month that he had privileged access to it including in January when he said: “Put it this way I didn’t lose any sleep when I was on holiday over it.” and then again on Monday this week: “Put it this way I’m losing even less sleep about it.” if not to indicate to the market and to everyone else that the deal was safe and sound? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Firstly the member is making many leaps forward. There is no deal on the table at this point—that is the first thing. Secondly there is nothing wrong with the general characterisations—no leaking of a report—and the characterisation was of course quite accurate because as I picked up the  
New Zealand Herald 
 today I read the editorial and it said it finds nothing wrong with the Prime Minister’s dealings with Skycity. 
Metiria Turei 
: Is the Prime Minister saying to the people of New Zealand that because he wanted people to believe that he was vindicated he was therefore entitled to breach the Auditor-General’s confidentiality rules by releasing selective details of the report that he had privileged access to? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: No I think I am quite entitled to give a general characterisation. By the way that general characterisation has proved to be absolutely correct and I quote from the report where it says “We have seen no evidence to suggest that the final decision to negotiate with Skycity was influenced by any inappropriate considerations.” Let me make this one last point. This is the member who went to the Auditor-General and said that we had done something wrong. There is nothing wrong and now all she can go on is the process of my characterisation— 
Dr Russel Norman 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I refer you to Standing Order 383(2) which states very clearly that “The reply to any question must be concise and confined to the subject-matter of the question asked”. The Prime Minister has repeatedly today gone well beyond the questions asked to make his political point. That is not what he is required to do by the Standing Orders and I would ask you to enforce them. 
Hon David Parker 
: Supplementary question— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I will just rule for the benefit of Mr Norman first. I think when you consider the content of the questions that have been asked in relation to this then the Prime Minister has every right to respond fully and with some political connotation. We have a further—[ 
Interruption 
] Yes? 
Dr Russel Norman 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Which Standing Order says that? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Oh we are not getting into quoting Standing Orders—[ 
Interruption 
] My job here is to anticipate the quality of the question and the quality of the answer and I am ruling today that the quality of the question has received a perfectly satisfactory answer from the Prime Minister. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Could you please issue to members both of the two rulings that you have just given and indicate which previous Speakers’ rulings will be cut out as a result of them? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I can. I certainly do not intend to do that on the floor of the House today but I am happy to look at that work for the benefit of the honourable member. 
Hon David Parker 
: Was the phrase that the Prime Minister has quoted from the report today—and I will just repeat it: “We have seen no evidence to suggest that the final decision to negotiate with Skycity was influenced by any inappropriate considerations.”—included in the draft report that was earlier circulated to him? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Yes. 
Metiria Turei 
: Will the Prime Minister take any ministerial responsibility for a process that the Deputy Auditor-General has said left other bidders out in the cold and that was also described by the Deputy Auditor-General as neither “transparent or even-handed.”? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I think what is fair to say is that officials will go away I am sure and look at the process but as the Deputy Auditor-General’s report makes quite clear this was a non-standard type of procurement and it is likely that Governments will have more of these types of thing in the future. What I go back to the member and say though is that she went to the Auditor-General she made a claim it was utterly wrong and she has come today theoretically to pound me in the House and the only thing she can ask about is whether I was right in saying it was a cosy little deal or not. And I was right; it was not a cosy little deal. 
Metiria Turei 
: Does the Prime Minister hold the Office of the Auditor-General in such disregard that he was prepared to breach its confidentiality rules to make himself look good and to misrepresent the report while leaving his officials to take the blame? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: No. I have done nothing to make myself look good. I go back to the Deputy Auditor-General’s report that says “We have seen no evidence to suggest that the final decision to negotiate with Skycity was influenced by any inappropriate considerations.” Sadly for the Greens she has gone on a wild goose chase and found at the end of it that there is no goose waiting there for her. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Does the Prime Minister expect the public of New Zealand to believe that he has a meeting with Skycity and neither he nor his staff nor Skycity kept any record of what happened at that meeting? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I have many many meetings—[ 
Interruption 
] I have many many meetings where I do not keep records of those meetings. I meet people all the time. Actually so does the member because if I want to quote from some of the meetings he held in scampi restaurants he might say the same. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. You might well smile there Mr Speaker but you were sued on that very issue yourself so I would not get too happy about that. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Do not bring the Speaker— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: But back to my point— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! If the member has a point of order I will listen to it but I certainly will not tolerate him bringing the Speaker into the debate. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Yes well if you found it so funny I thought it should be brought to your memory. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: But here is my point— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I will give the member one more opportunity if he wants to raise a genuine point of order. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: It is the same Standing Order that Russel Norman cited. The Prime Minister’s answer had nothing to do with the nature of the question that I asked. I want to know how come such an important meeting happened and no one there had any memory of— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No you are now asking—[ 
Interruption 
] Order! Points of order will not be used to raise a further supplementary question. It certainly was not helpful the last part of the Prime Minister’s answer to the tension in the House today.