Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:619;Page:14720] 
2.  
GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Maori Affairs 
: What information had he received and from whom that formed the basis of his statement last week: “I had concern about the use of public service databases office space telephones equipment and cars to call host and manage a hui for the Maori Party.”? 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE (Associate Minister of Maori Affairs) 
: 
 Maori attending the Maori Party meeting raised concerns with me as the MP for TamakiMakaurau relating to possible use of Government resources by a senior public servant and the extent of her involvement in that meeting. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: What did he mean when he said in a press release on 5 August 2004 in relation to the northern regional manager of Community Employment Groups that: “There is an underlying duress under which they may have felt obligated to attend for fear their applications would not be treated favourably.” and who was the person he was referring to? 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: The person I raised concerns about was AmokuraPanoho. That person is the northern regional manager of the Community Employment Group and that person attended the Maori Party meeting as the regional organiser for the Maori Party. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. With all due respect although that is an address to the question it is not an answer by any manner of means. I ask this question— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Please be seated. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Well I will just come back at you. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Please be seated. I just want to say that getting up all the time and questioning answers when the second part of the question asked who the person was and the first answer the Minister gave actually named the person; and then—[ 
Interruption 
] The member was not listening as I was. I was listening very carefully. That answer clearly addressed the question. Points of order about that are really quite frivolous. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question asked what he meant and then referred to a quote from him or by him and therefore we were wanting to know what he meant when he said that those people attending that hui would have felt underlying duress and feared that their applications may not be favoured appropriately— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: And then? 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Then we asked who the person referred to was— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is three questions. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: No with respect there are only two questions and he has answered one of them. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No he addressed the question that was asked. 
Nanaia Mahuta 
: Can the Minister clarify—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member will stand withdraw and apologise because that is a reference to me. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I withdraw and apologise. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I want him to assure me it was not a reference to me. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: It most certainly was not; it was directed at the Associate Minister. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I just want to say that is sufficient. The member must learn how to make his interjections in order. 
Nanaia Mahuta 
: Can the Minister clarify whether he put these concerns or Ms AmokuraPanoho’s name into the public domain? 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: No the Maori Party told Ruth Berry from the  
New Zealand Herald  
about AmokuraPanoho. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Could the Minister tell the House and the country whether his concern about this person’s attendance was that the person in question was attending business in respect of the Tariana Turia party at the time she should have been and was employed to be doing work on behalf of the New Zealand taxpayer? 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: Yes. 
Metiria Turei 
: Does the Minister agree with Michael Joseph Savage who in 1936 on the introduction of a bill to give public servants the same political rights as other citizens said: “I have sufficient confidence in civil servants to believe they will use their political rights just as intelligently as anyone else; probably that is the reason they have been denied them in the past.” or does the Minister’s understanding of Labour Party history go back only as far as 1984? 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: He is the great forefather of the Labour Party and was a great Cabinet Minister and Minister; and I agree with him. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Why is it not known and is it not a matter of astonishment that after all this controversy the real issue here is of someone being paid for by the taxpayer to be in one place but is at a political meeting for another party at another place and is that the answer in respect of all four questions laid out by the National Party today in question No. 2— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No the member can ask only about this question but the Minister can reply. 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: Yes one does wonder when Mr Gerry Brownlee wants the head of the Maori Language Commissioner one day and wants to keep the head of another the next day. I just do not know how mixed up they are. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: Is the reason the Minister assumed that Maori Party supporters were misusing public service databases office space telephones equipment and cars to call host and manage a hui for the Maori Party because for years that is exactly what the Labour Party has been doing? 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: No. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Why did he send his staff to the hui and were his unproven accusations against Ms Panoho motivated by the fact that she as a Maori Party organiser in her private capacity is determined to unseat him? 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: The latter might be true. As to the former I would have to say that my people go voluntarily to a number of hui in my electorate. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Has he had any discussions with other Ministers or officials that canvassed the potential cost of legal fees and possible settlement that his unproven allegations may cost the taxpayer? 
Hon JOHN TAMIHERE 
: No.