Coddington Deborah: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Coddington Deborah: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:625;Page:20044] 
5.  
DEBORAH CODDINGTON (ACT) 
 to the  
Minister of Women’s Affairs 
: How much is spent annually on women’s affairs and what is achieved by this? 
Hon RUTH DYSON (Minister of Women’s Affairs) 
: 
 I presume that the question refers to direct expenditure by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in which case the answer is $4.665 million for the year ending June 2005. The outputs that are required as a result of that expenditure are outlined in the annual report and I will seek to table that annual report at the end of this question. 
Deborah Coddington 
: How can the Minister claim that that spending has any effect and that the ministry has achieved anything when a senior Labour MP can dismiss leading women in his own party as butch lesbians simply because they do not have children—casting a slur on all childless women—and not have to retract his statement? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: I very much regret that the Minister and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs do not have responsibility for the comments of that member. Further though I note that my colleague has apologised to the Labour caucus which severely censured him for the comments he made. The caucus said that those comments were grossly offensive. It is time in my view to move on from that matter. 
Dianne Yates 
: Has the Government improved choices and opportunities for the women of New Zealand? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: As a matter of fact yes there is a long list of Labour-Progressive Government - introduced initiatives that create more choices and opportunities for New Zealand women at home and in paid work. They include paid parental leave which increases to 14 weeks this year; increased childcare subsidies; a significant boost to income support through the Working for Families package; and a programme to introduce pay and employment equity in the public sector. 
Judith Collins 
: How does the Minister explain the stunning silence from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs following the abusive statements made by John Tamihere when describing his female colleagues and New Zealand women in light of the ministry’s stated goal to “draw attention to and provide advice to advance the status of women in Aotearoa New Zealand …”? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: As the member should know the people from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs are not inclined to become involved in matters that are party political because they are public servants. That would be entirely inappropriate. Further there was no need to receive any sort of advice given the very clear comments of the Prime Minister that those statements were grossly offensive and unacceptable to the New Zealand Labour Party. 
Judy Turner 
: Can the Minister actually point to a decrease in the number of women who have been battered or even killed as a result of domestic violence every year; and when we have her ministry the Ministry of Social Development the Department of Justice the New Zealand Police and the Department of Child Youth and Family Services all working on New Zealand’s violence prevention strategy what assurances can she give that actual progress is being made on its implementation rather than it being just a massive talkfest? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: I agree with the feeling behind the member’s question that domestic violence including situations where women are killed is totally unacceptable. I support the role of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in ensuring that when violent situations are analysed a gender analysis is part of that—because tragically it is still true that in the majority of cases of domestic violence it is women who are the victims of that violence. 
Judith Collins 
: What steps has the Minister or her ministry taken to obtain from her Government colleague Mr John Tamihere a full retraction for the women of New Zealand whom he so firmly and forcefully put in their place? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: The member may not be aware of the fact that on Tuesday this week John Tamihere came to the Labour Party caucus and offered an unqualified apology for his comments. The Prime Minister on behalf of the caucus and the Labour Party issued a severe censure which has been made public. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: Does the Minister recall that last week in the House the National Party asked a number of questions and made a number of speeches attacking the Prime Minister for being a childless woman and does the Minister see this as another example of that party’s ability to flip-flop from one week to the next? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: Absolutely. Not only on this occasion but over many years the National Party has demonstrated its total lack of support for New Zealand women. 
Deborah Coddington 
: Does the Minister think there are two standards in terms of policies on attitudes to New Zealand women when John Tamihere gets away with his sexist language without issuing a retraction but she herself had to retract and apologise for calling a National woman MP an “irresponsible tart”? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: The comment I made was totally inappropriate and I am pleased that I apologised for it. John Tamihere came to the caucus and gave an unqualified apology for his grossly offensive comments. 
Deborah Coddington 
: How can the Minister claim that the Ministry of Women’s Affairs has done anything to reduce the stereotyping of women as weak and inferior when John Tamihere does not have to retract his sexist dismissal of the Prime Minister as “emotional” and someone who “goes to pieces” whenever she has to confront a problem? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: I assume that underlying the member’s question is support for the continuation of the role of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. Clearly we have not been 100 percent successful yet. 
Rodney Hide 
: What really has been achieved when the Labour Party itself has in its midst Mr Clayton Cosgrove who organised placards outside that MP’s office questioning her sexual orientation simply because she had not had children; and has she ever had an apology from Mr Clayton Cosgrove for his doing that? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: The protest that the member refers to which consisted of three or four people was actually outside my home. It was before I was a member of Parliament and I did not see Clayton Cosgrove there. 
Rodney Hide 
: Does she find it acceptable that the chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee would organise a protest outside her home accusing her of being a dyke—and I can say that that has been confirmed by Mr Ron Mark who says that is exactly what happened and that Clayton Cosgrove organised it— 
Madam SPEAKER 
: The question is getting well away from ministerial responsibility unless the member can pull it into context really quickly. 
Rodney Hide 
: —and if the Ministry of Women’s Affairs was really doing its job would not Clayton Cosgrove have had to apologise to her or are there two standards? 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: If Mr Hide is relying on Ron Mark for his sources of information then I am not surprised he is so often way off the mark. 
Rodney Hide 
: I seek the leave of the House to table a series of documents about these placards being outside Ruth Dyson’s home. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table those documents. Is there any objection? Yes. They will not be tabled. 
Hon RUTH DYSON 
: I seek leave as indicated in my answer to the primary question to table the Ministry of Women’s Affairs annual report for the year ended 30 June 2004. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? Yes there is. It will not be tabled. 
Judith Collins 
: I seek leave to table the front page of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs website which shows that not one statement has been issued by the ministry about Mr Tamihere’s comments. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? It will not be tabled. 
Rodney Hide 
: In response to Ruth Dyson’s claims I seek the leave of the House to table a report showing that there were actually 40 Mike Moore supporters protesting outside her house. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? It will not be tabled. 
Ron Mark 
: I wish to make a personal explanation about comments made by Mr Hide and denied by the Minister. I want to confirm to the House that I did confirm with Mr Hide that Clayton Cosgrove was intimately involved in running Mike Moore’s offensive and defensive campaign during the leadership coup that he did organise the campaign outside the honourable member’s home and that there were placards as shown on TV that day that had on them slogans such as “dyke” questioning that member’s sexuality. This is a matter of record in the media; it is not something I have made up. I do take offence at the rather humorous slight of me that the member made by suggesting that the things I bring to this House are untrue. It is fact that when I said that a person on home detention was on P and died of it it was proven eventually to be true which the Minister admitted. A number of things that this Government has denied have proven to be true. This incident that Mr Hide is referring to is a matter of public record and TV3 and Television One records will show that. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Is the member seeking a withdrawal and apology from the Minister for her comment? 
Ron Mark 
: No not at all.