Goff Phil: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Goff Phil: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:653;Page:2189] 
1. Hon PHIL GOFF (Leader of the Opposition) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: What assurances if any has he received from all his Ministers that they have declared all of their pecuniary interests on becoming Ministers; if so when? 
Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 As members of Parliament Ministers are required by the Standing Orders to disclose certain assets and interests in the Register of Pecuniary Interests of Members of Parliament. Ministers who were members of Parliament before their appointment have therefore publicly declared their pecuniary interests. The declarations for the year to January 2009 were to be lodged by 2 March and will be published by the registrar in due course. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Did Dr Worth while speaking in India as a Minister and promoting aviation training in New Zealand in which he had personal commercial interests meet all of the conflict of interest requirements set out in the  
Cabinet Manual 
; if not in which respect did he fall short of the required standards? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: As I said yesterday I think it was unwise for Dr Worth not to have resigned from the New Zealand Aviation company when he embarked on that trip to India. That left him open to a perception of conflict of interest. I do not believe that there was a real conflict of interest for Dr Worth or that he set out to make pecuniary gain; nevertheless he opened himself up to the perception of one. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Why did the Prime Minister in the  
Dominion Post 
 
in the morning say that he had absolutely no problem with Dr Worth’s trip yet in the afternoon say that he had given Dr Worth “a bollocking” for his behaviour? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: Firstly the  
Dominion Post  
is not published in the morning and in the afternoon; those articles were published on different days. I was simply asked a different question on Friday from the one I was asked on Monday. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Did the New Zealand taxpayer in any way subsidise this private business junket run by a member of the Prime Minister’s Executive Council? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: Not to the best of my knowledge. I have a copy with me of the letter sent to me by Dr Worth which I released yesterday and in it he made it clear that the expenses for his trip would be met by him personally. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Can the Prime Minister then confirm the accuracy of Dr Worth’s statement that he paid for his own flight to India and costs and does he therefore accept that no other body or interests contributed in any way towards the cost of that trip? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: To the best of my knowledge I understand that Dr Worth was facilitated when he left through Visits and Ceremonial Office but I do not think that that would create cost. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Why did Dr Worth and Mr Groser continue to hold directorships within New Zealand Aviation and the India Trade Group several months into their ministerial appointments and for how long was the Prime Minister aware of that? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: Firstly in relation to both Ministers they rightfully sought Cabinet advice on whether there was a conflict of interest. In the case of Mr Groser after he raised the issue with the Cabinet Office it was indicated that it probably would be best if he resigned and he took the opportunity to do so. I am advised that he informally resigned from New Zealand Aviation in late December or in January; he formally resigned on 23 January 2009. In the case of Dr Worth there was not perceived to be a conflict of interest because there was no conflict with the ministerial warrants that he held. Of course once he went on a trip to India that in my view created a perception of a conflict of interest. I will say that the India Trade Group for all of that is a worthy organisation and one that seeks to build links between New Zealand and India. It is so worthy in fact that when I looked at the honorary advisers I saw that one of them lo and behold is the Hon Phil Goff Leader of the Opposition. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Can the Prime Minister confirm that the various people who are honorary advisers to the organisation have in fact absolutely no pecuniary interest in it and that therefore his throwaway line at the end was just a pathetic attempt to take the focus away from the major conflicts of interest suffered by his Ministers? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: No. I think the Leader of the Opposition should stop acting so defensively. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Why did it take Mr Groser several months to resign from directorships that were an apparent conflict of interest when it took Richard Worth only 2 hours yesterday morning to do that? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: In the case of Mr Groser as I said he verbally indicated that he would be resigning soon after he had raised the matter with the Cabinet Office. He was and is a very busy Minister of Trade. Amongst other things since becoming Minister he has been to Peru for days he has been to Poland he has been to Davos in Switzerland and he has been to India. In fact he has hardly ever been in New Zealand but in amongst all of that he did spend 2 weeks on the conservation estate. The feedback we have had internationally is that Mr Groser is a very hard-working Minister of Trade unlike the previous Minister of Trade. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Have therefore both Dr Worth and Mr Groser met the high standards that the Prime Minister says he expects from his Ministers; if not was he just talking tough when he said “One strike and you’re out.”? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: Yes they have both met the standards— 
Hon Members 
: The high standards? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: Well yes they have both met the standards. I just point out to the Leader of the Opposition that he might like to talk tough down here in Parliament this afternoon but when he was asked on  
Morning Report 
 this morning: “Have you any proof that within the 3 months Mr Groser did anything that was a conflict of interest or compromise that in any way?” he said “No no. I’m not alleging that against Tim Groser. I cannot argue that. That was not the case.” By the way on the same  
Morning Report 
 item this morning Mr Goff said that for any breach of the  
Cabinet Manual 
 someone should be gone. You see Phil Goff wants to sack people for a perception of conflict of interest but when there was one with Taito Phillip Field and when there was one with Winston Peters as a senior member of Cabinet he sat back and did nothing.