Hide Rodney: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Hide Rodney: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:629;Page:1235] 
1.  
RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
 to the  
Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee 
: What letters if any has he received in relation to the Finance and Expenditure Committee’s inquiry into Television New Zealand? 
SHANE JONES (Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee): 
 I have received numerous letters and those that are relevant have been put before the committee. 
Rodney Hide 
: Can the chairperson deny to the House that he told me and the media yesterday that he decided to rip up into a hundred pieces my letter of complaint to him as chairperson; what does he believe gives him the authority to rip up letters addressed to him as chairperson of the entire committee? 
SHANE JONES 
: I have responded to the so-called letter and invited the relevant member to bring his concerns to the committee which he chose not to do yesterday. 
R Doug Woolerton 
: Can the chairperson confirm that a reply was sent to Rodney Hide on 7 February 2006 that the select committee meeting ended at precisely 1 p.m. that Mr Hide’s letter was not on the agenda and further that Mr Hide neither sought leave to extend the meeting nor put the matter on the agenda himself? 
SHANE JONES 
: The member’s recollection is reassuring and unnervingly accurate. 
Rodney Hide 
: Can the chairperson confirm that he received my letter responded to it as a matter of the committee and then ended the meeting before considering it saying that he had ripped it up; did he rip it up or did he not? 
SHANE JONES 
: The meeting ended at the appointed time and the opportunity available for the ACT member on the committee—2 percent of the time—is very limited. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. Rodney Hide’s question to the chair of the committee was quite explicit: did he rip up the letter that was received from a member of the committee? I think when a member writes to a chair of a committee and the chair chooses not to address the question it is a pretty important issue. I think it is proper for you Madam Speaker as you are in charge of the overall select committee system and how we operate as parliamentarians to agree that it is a fair requirement that Mr Jones should answer that question. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I agree with the member. 
SHANE JONES 
: The letter has been received by me. There are copies one of which was certainly ripped up by me. 
Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I raise this because the Minister Chris Carter called out [ 
Interruption 
]—the member can interrupt if he likes—that it was the most appropriate thing for the chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee to do. I raised this matter with you yesterday Madam Speaker and I consider it very serious indeed. We have just had the chairman of the Finance and Expenditure Committee confirm that a letter from a member which should automatically be an item of business was ripped up by him. We have had a Minister call out that that is the appropriate thing to do. I ask you to consider the issue. How can we have any order or accountability if letters to select committees from MPs and members of the public are to be treated in this cavalier fashion? 
Hon Chris Carter 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: No I do not need any more assistance on this if the member does not mind. I do regard it as serious and that is why I asked the member to answer the question directly which I think is appropriate. Also the way in which committee chairs conduct themselves in terms of committee business is an item I have put on the agenda for the meeting I am having with all the select committee chairs. So the matter will be addressed in that way. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That member took a substantial time in the House yesterday to raise his objection. He has taken a substantial time today. The plain fact is that it was explained to him in chronological and logical order what happened. There is a copy of his so-called precious letter which was able to be raised by him at the committee all the way to 1 o’clock yesterday but he did not avail himself of the opportunity. In short what we have here is someone who is headline hunting in Parliament every day on issues that he could have raised at the select committee in the whole 3 hours that committee met yesterday morning. My point of order also includes this. As I was raising this point of order members commenced again to misbehave in this House. About five of them should be thrown out and should have been thrown out some considerable time ago. The fact is that the member has had explained to him today that he had yesterday’s opportunity to use and he did not use it. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: The member has made his point. The fact of the matter is however that it is not unknown for members at times to raise spurious points of orders to get headlines from time to time. I do not approve of that practice and I take it that members would like me in future to be much stricter in my rulings and interventions on points of order that lead in that direction. That will apply to all members of the House.