Scott Lynda: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Scott Lynda: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:612;Page:9051] 
11.  
Dr LYNDA SCOTT (NZ National—Kaikoura) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Health 
: How many members of Parliament were lobbied by anti-smoking groups funded by the Ministry of Health to “create a climate of support for amendments to the Smoke-free Environments Act” and were all of those members of Parliament advised that the Ministry of Health had paid those groups to undertake that activity? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Associate Minister of Health) 
: 
 I do not know how many members of Parliament have been lobbied to “create a climate of support for amendments to the Smoke-free Environments Act”. Amendments were first proposed in 1991 and again in 1993 1995 and 1997 then in 1999 we had Tuku Morgan’s Smoke-free Environments (Enhanced Protection) Amendment Bill. The answer to the second part of the question is to the best of my knowledge no. 
Dr Lynda Scott 
: Noting that the ministry’s contracts with these organisations required them to provide 6-monthly reports on performance and outputs is the Minister really expecting the House to believe that the Government and its officials paid those organisations to lobby MPs but did not require them to prove that they had delivered on the very specific outputs listed in the 2000 contract; and is that an effective way to spend precious health dollars? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: I have not received reports from that contract. I believe it is appropriate for those organisations to spend taxpayers’ money informing people about the dangers of smoking. As quoted from the 1995 contract there has always been an obligation for them to “liaise with Government and private health agencies members of Parliament political parties and the media”. That has been a standard part of their contracts for many years. 
H V Ross Robertson 
: Does the Associate Minister of Health have any advice that concerns about contracts containing such clauses—dating from 1993 to the present day—were raised by Ministers of Health with the Health Funding Authority of the Ministry of Health? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: No possibly because the Minister of Health has never been involved in negotiating these contracts which I presume is the reason Bill English never objected to the contracts while he was Minister. 
Rodney Hide 
: When the Minister met the representatives of Action on Smoking and Health the Smokefree Coalition and Apaarangi Tautoko Auahi Kore did he know that his own officials were paying these groups to see him; if not would he not have expected his officials to tell him that these meetings were part of their “performance indicators” with these lobby groups bought and paid for with health dollars? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: I meet every day many people whose salaries are paid for by the taxpayer including members of Parliament. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Minister will come specifically to the question asked by Mr Hide. 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: I was not informed but I am aware that they are organisations— 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: Yes so are we. 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: That was not a very good one. They are organisations that are funded by contracts with the Ministry of Health. I know that along with most other members of Parliament. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: How does the Minister justify his ministry giving funding to private sector agencies to lobby members of Parliament and others to support the Smoke-free Environments (Enhanced Protection) Amendment Bill which is a member’s bill that his own Government has thus far shown unwillingness to adopt as a Government measure by virtue of the fact that it still remains on the Order Paper as a member’s bill? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: I do not find that satisfactory. That is why I am investigating these contracts and have asked for assistance from the State Services Commission to review contracts in place. 
Dr Lynda Scott 
: Noting that the State Services Commission has produced a series of fact sheets on political neutrality and that one of those states that public servants should not initiate oral or written contacts with MPs or any political party without the prior knowledge and consent of their Minister why is it acceptable for the Ministry of Health to contract anti-smoking groups to undertake an activity that they themselves are expressly forbidden from doing if he is saying he knew nothing about it? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: We are currently seeking advice from the State Services Commission on that very thing. I am not sure why the previous Government allowed such contracts to be put in place either. That is why we are seeking advice on that very matter. 
Rodney Hide 
: Could the Minister tell the House whether the gagging order clause and the “let’s lobby MPs to affect a law change” clause were added by the officials without any Minister knowing or were added at the direction of the Minister of Health; or does this Minister not know who was responsible for a political operation that caught even him? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: I am happy to quote word for word from the document that was signed in 1999 by the previous Government. Clause 17 is the gagging clause that the member refers to. I had no input into such a clause. The former Minister under the previous Government might have but I doubt that. It stated: “Neither of us may during or after this agreement either directly or indirectly criticise the other publicly without first discussing the matters of concern with the other in good faith and in a cooperative instructive manner.” That is a standard clause in any good-faith agreement between two parties. 
Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. We have quite a serious situation with this Minister. Yesterday everything was OK; today it is not. The situation is that taxpayers’ money has been used to lobby MPs. We want to know whether it was a covert operation directed by the Minister of Health or by officials. This Minister is talking about documents we have not seen and that we are not asking questions about. I ask you for the sake of this House to get that Minister to answer the question or just explain that he does not know. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Minister did definitely address the particular question asked.