Curran ClareHon CLARE CURRAN (Associate Minister of State Services (Open Government)): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. In direct reference to the previous speaker Todd McClay I'm very pleased to hear that the National Party is supporting this bill to select committee after the first reading. Absolutely he made an important point around getting the right person and the best person for the job and surely he would also—and I hope that his party would—agree that getting the best person for the job requires that they act responsibly and that the entities that they represent behave responsibly.I want to go directly to the trust and confidence aspect of this piece of legislation which is the crux of why it's being introduced. I want to refer members to the 2017 Acumen Edelman Trust Barometer which is part of an international report. It's the New Zealand version of that report but it's the international report that goes to the trust and confidence that citizens have in their society whether it be business whether it be Government whether it be NGOs and it looks at the changes positive or negative. The 2017 report disturbingly showed that in New Zealand there was a growing gap in confidence by the majority of the population—a 20-point gap which was an eight-point increase in that year in 2017 which is very disturbing and on a par with other comparable countries but at their very upper level. What that indicates is that the trust and confidence that citizens have in their society—whether it be business whether it be the public sector the people that represent them and the community sector—is not increasing; it's decreasing. That is very disturbing.One of the things that this report talked about—this is in reference to the previous speaker with his comment about getting the best person for the job—is the actions that business and by implication the Public Service can take that would most damage trust in a better future. Number one on that list is paying executives hundreds of times more than workers. That's number one. And if you translate that into the public sector those behaviours of extraordinary pay increases where the ordinary citizen looks at that compared to what they earn and sees a massive growing increase in the people at the top of Public Service entities and they see that happening and continuing to happen that is one of the key reasons why trust and confidence are decreasing.That is why this Government is putting a stake in the ground around trying to improve trust and confidence being open and accountable about how these practices occur the basis on which they occur the rules that underpin them providing consistency. And that is the critical nature of this piece of legislation—that it's providing consistency for Crown entities from other parts of the public sector. It could be recommended at select committee that it goes even broader and perhaps even includes Crown-owned companies in its ambit and I'm looking forward to seeing what discussions and what submissions are provided at the select committee.But ultimately this piece of legislation is about consistency across the Public Service in terms of providing a comparable process for how pay increases occur at the very top. It's about fairness it's about showing responsible government and as my colleague Chris Hipkins referred to it's about integrity and transparency and accountability of government. Those things are critical to close that gap that 20 percent gap that's grown in the last year of 8 percent so that citizens are feeling as if action is being taken on the things that they are the most cynical about.The members on the other side can laugh and chortle all they like but the visibility of very high increases whether it's in the public sector or the private sector—the perception of that is that the 1 percent the people at the very top are getting huge increases while the ordinary people are struggling.There was a report that was produced by the State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes. The Senior Pay Report covering State sector bosses' pay in the year to June 2017 identified three Crown entities as being of particular concern. I think that it very wisely had the point of principle that has led to this piece of legislation and that led the Minister of State Services to look into this. It was to look at the closing of the gap between the high-income earners and the low-income earners and the public sector should be leading by example. That is the hallmark of a responsible Government and of a Government that's going to be more transparent and accountable that will show more integrity and that will build that trust and confidence with the citizens.It was backed up by the Prime Minister's comments that Crown entities that did not have to follow the advice of the State Services Commissioner were effectively not answerable to anyone. Now as a citizen of New Zealand if you see entities that are essentially out of control and that are not taking the advice of the head of the public sector and where the head of the public sector is not able to have more requirement powers—which is what this bill introduces—then the perception is that things are out of control that there's no chance of fairness. There's less chance of fairness in our system and it's essentially a bad look.That is the essence behind this bill. That's why it's responsible. That's why it needs to be introduced at this time in our term because it's a hallmark. If the Opposition doesn't get that well that's because they just simply don't understand why trust and confidence are actually important. I think that that is the crux of this issue. The Opposition just doesn't get why this Government talks about trust and confidence and why it talks about more accountability.Brett Hudson: Because it doesn't want to do anything—that's why it talks about it.Hon CLARE CURRAN: Ha ha! So I'm proud to support this bill and to emphasise that this is part of a wider agenda for change across the public sector to build trust and confidence and to provide more consistency of practice. The State Services Commissioner requirement powers that are contained in this piece of legislation are responsible. They reflect best practice. It's widening those powers from where they just have to consult when advice is provided and I commend the bill to the House.