Smith NickHon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson): That speech was nearly as big an embarrassment as Clare Curran is as a Minister. This is almost comical in what has occurred. We have a Minister of open Government—actually the very first Minister of open Government that's ever existed in this Parliament—and the promise of the Minister of open Government was to be the most open and transparent Government that this country has ever had and then what we find out from that Minister is that not once but twice that Minister behaved in a secretive in a sneaky and in a dirty way. The contributions from Greg O'Connor and Chris Hipkins in this debate show that the Government doesn't get it. If you come to this Parliament as a new Government promising to be open and transparent—surprise surprise! We expect you to practise what you preach.Now let's come to the events that have led to Clare Curran's resignation as the Minister of open Government. Firstly we had the incident with Radio New Zealand. Let's understand how important that is. A free politically neutral media goes to the heart of how our democracy works. We are not—well I hope we're not; I sometimes doubt it when I hear members opposite—one of those countries where we have a State media that just spins the Government line like you might get in North Korea or Zimbabwe. Here we have Clare Curran having private secret meetings with the head of news—not some public servant. What is the Minister of broadcasting doing having meetings—secret meetings—with the head of news at Radio New Zealand? There wouldn't be a member in this House not even my newest colleagues that wouldn't have a feeling that well that doesn't feel quite right. I'm the Minister of broadcasting; I shouldn't really be having secret meetings with the head of Radio New Zealand news."But here's the part that has me gobsmacked: the week after this Parliament admonishes her for being dishonest about the secret meeting guess what Clare Curran does? She arranges another secret meeting this time wearing the portfolio as the Minister of digital technologies. I've been here for 28 years. I've seen some Ministers goof it up. What I have never seen is a dicky Minister commit exactly the same crime just one week after there's a massive controversy. Now as Simon Bridges correctly said there are only two possibilities here. Either she's dumb or she's dishonest. I'm sorry there can only be two explanations for that course of events that has occurred.Let's dig into the issue of the appointment of the information officer for the Government. Now is there a single member of this Parliament that doesn't understand the neutrality of the Public Service? I heard lectures all the time when we were in Government about respecting the neutrality. I even heard speeches from Clare Curran lecturing the previous Government about the neutrality of the Public Service. I have never heard of a Minister privately and secretly meeting about the appointment of a very senior public servant to be made by this Government.I challenge members opposite to tell me a single example that you can think of in the last 20 to 30 years where a Government appointment has been made and that has been done in a secret meeting. I can tell you Madam Deputy Speaker I've had 14 different ministerial portfolios. I have never had a meeting in 14 years about which my ministerial staff did not know. What is going on in the culture of the ministerial offices of this Government that they have to keep meetings that they've having secret?Hon Dr Megan Woods: Did you tell everyone about the Bronwyn Pullar meeting?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Oh Megan Woods is interjecting. I say to Megan Woods: how many meetings have you had that you've kept secret from your ministerial staffers?Hon Andrew Little: Two words: Bronwyn Pullar—Bronwyn Pullar! Tell us how many meetings.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Andrew Little's confessing he has secret meetings without his ministerial staffers knowing and all that reminds me of including the interjections is how low the standards of integrity have already fallen in this Government.You see the members opposite campaigned on being the most open transparent Government ever. My criticism this afternoon is not just of Clare Curran. I want to go to the Prime Minister. How open and transparent was it for the Prime Minister to announce Clare Curran's resignation at 4 p.m. on a Friday? Does that meet the standard of the members opposite for the standards of openness and transparency? Strange silence. They have their heads hung across on those Government benches and appropriately so because this actually goes deeper—deeper than just Clare Curran. This goes to the heart of and to the character of the Government we now have because it's not just in the area of open and transparent Government that there is a canyon between the promise and the performance. Actually if you dig into every single area of this Government it's all as though if they say words somehow that delivers results for New Zealanders.Here's the bit from Clare Curran that I found extraordinary from the Government. You have the Government announce that open Government is so important that we're going to have to have a strategy for open Government. So members of the Cabinet opposite produce a 24-page open Government strategy and members on this side of the House ask Clare Curran: can we have a copy of the strategy under the Official Information Act? And here's the comical part. Every single page of the open Government strategy was kept secret—was kept secret. Now it would be hilarious if it were not so serious. Again it illustrates the gulf between the promise of this Government and its performance.Here's the last part: does any member of this House recall any time in the last 30 years where you've had two Ministers effectively fall over in one week?Hon Members: No.Hon Dr NICK SMITH: That is a shambles. That is the sort of incompetence that is now being shown in this Government and it's more serious than this. This is a Government that's been lecturing New Zealanders about issues of physical violence and it's being practised by one of its Ministers. Isn't that extraordinary? And then we have the incident over the same recess of their secret report on the Labour Party camp. I challenge members opposite: where is the openness and transparency when you commission a report about the awful incident that occurred at the Labour camp over the sexual abuse of young people and keep it secret?So whether it is on sexual abuse issues whether it's on physical violence or whether it is on open Government this is a Government that says one thing and does the opposite. They have lost their moral authority and the resignation of Clare Curran is just a smell of the rot that exists within this Government in which they are promising New Zealanders one thing and delivering the exact opposite. Any Prime Minister—whether it was Bill English whether it was John Key whether it was Helen Clark—would have dealt with the Clare Curran issue that occurred way back in February far more decisively and it equally applies to the very serious accusations that I have not heard of in 30 years of a Minister assaulting a staff member. The rot in this Government runs very very deep indeed."