Sharples Pita: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Sharples Pita: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:637;Page:7969] 
11.  
Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: E matauana ia kei te tukua te whakahaere o ngahua me ngataunaha a te Karauna peraiera katoa a ngahinongaKawanatangai te wanei matetahi huarahi whakakahaakeaii te wariu o ngahaumi a te Kawanatanga meinaae he aha ai? 
[ 
Is he confident that the management of the Crown’s assets and liabilities in the case of all State-owned enterprises is currently delivered in a way that enhances the value of the Government’s investments; if so why? 
] 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 In a financial sense yes. In the 12 months ending 30 June 2006 State-owned enterprises earned nearly $1.5 billion in profit and saw equity growth of nearly $2.7 billion or over 30 percent. Of course individual issues of one sort or another will always arise. 
Dr Pita Sharples 
: What explanation then does the Minister have for the following comment made by the Prime Minister on Monday: “It has come as something of a surprise to many of us that Landcorp was disposing of land at the rate that it was particularly land in sensitive areas.”; and would the Minister agree that the Crown Company Monitoring Advisory Unit’s management is less than satisfactory if even the Prime Minister is unaware of the business operations of that State-owned enterprise? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I am not directly responsible for the Crown Company Monitoring Advisory Unit. That unit is the responsibility of the Minister for State Owned Enterprises. In any case the Crown Company Monitoring Advisory Unit is not responsible for the decisions made by a State-owned enterprise; it is responsible for oversight. In terms of the member’s original question that issue of course is not one about the value of the Government’s investments being enhanced; it is about whether some of those investments should not have their value enhanced in a financial sense but be used for other purposes. 
Hone Harawira 
: Tena koe Madam Speaker. Does the Minister agree that the Government’s management of Whenuakite Station which has recently been described as patches of woolly nightshade ragwort half-sprayed gorse and cattle carcasses of skin and bones rotting in the paddock is an insult to the Hauraki iwi who have been fighting to get that land back in good working order or does he see it as most people do as being symptomatic of a Government that has no genuine consideration for the Maori partner to the Treaty settlement process? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I completely reject the latter assertion. Of course no specific claim has yet been lodged by a mandated group over Whenuakite Station. The issue here is that land with potential value was being disposed of particularly coastal land without Ministers being made aware of it. Quite different processes are now in place to deal with that kind of issue. 
Dr Pita Sharples 
: Does the Minister agree with the Prime Minister’s comments at her press conference on Monday that Landcorp is not just any other commercial farmer and that the Crown has entrusted its land to Landcorp to use properly; and why did it take the actions of Ngati Kahu at Rangiputa Station of Tuwharetoa at Taurewa and of Hauraki iwi at Whenuakite before the activities of Landcorp were brought to the Prime Minister’s attention? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I know the member will find it hard to believe this but the actions of the iwi at Whenuakite did not cause Cabinet’s reaction. Cabinet’s reaction was around the potential disposal of very high-value coastal property in a very sensitive area in terms of coastal values. This highlighted the need for both a review of the processes and also a review of the total landholdings of Landcorp where some of those landholdings might be better situated within other agencies such as the Department of Conservation.