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:2407] 
2.  
Hon PHIL GOFF (Leader of the Opposition) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he have confidence in all his Ministers? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister) 
 on behalf of the  
Prime Minister 
: Yes; they are hard-working and competent Ministers. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Is he confident that it was a prudent use of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money for his Minister of Education Mrs Tolley to take a helicopter joyride over Auckland on the basis she said that she wanted an overview of the Auckland University of Technology? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: As the member will be aware having formed an overview of the globe in his travels when a trade Minister including an overview of South America just recently where he was an extraordinarily influential figure at the conference that he went to or so he told the media— 
Hon Phil Goff 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. [ 
Interruption 
] I understood that points of order were to be heard in silence. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is a very good point well made. We will hear it in silence. I thank the member. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: The question was quite straightforward. It was specific to a particular Minister. We have not yet had the Prime Minister answer that question. I think it is time that he addressed himself to the question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I am sure that the Hon Bill English will do that. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: I am absolutely satisfied that the Minister of Education has strong views about her role as a steward of public funds. The fact is that the Crown has substantial investments in tertiary institutions in Auckland. The previous Labour Government made a number of open-ended commitments that it did not fund properly and the Minister of Education has to sort out the mess. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Can the Prime Minister explain what the benefits were either for education or for the hard-working New Zealanders whose taxpayer money funded this jaunt for the Minister to have this joyride; and how is this expenditure consistent with the Government’s demand for value-for-money expenditure? 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: Better than a hug from Joe Biden. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Yeah I would ask who paid for that. It is quite normal practice for Ministers to take rides in helicopters. It is done all the time because— 
Hon Phil Goff 
: What did she see that she couldn’t have seen by car? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: What did that member see in South America that he could not have seen on CNN news? If the trip was paid for by anyone else and the value of it was over $500 then the Minister will declare it as a gift on the pecuniary interests register just the same as I have done myself. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: How does the Prime Minister reconcile the Minister of Education’s decision to sack 70 staff members at the Tertiary Education Commission in order to save money with this cavalier use of taxpayers’ money which could have been spent on strengthening education? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: It is not a cavalier use of taxpayers’ money; it is perfectly normal practice for Ministers. The redundancies in the Tertiary Education Commission were due to a decision made by the chief executive of the commission. Change in the Tertiary Education Commission was well signalled by National when in Opposition because it was one of the most wasteful and useless expenditures of public money that the previous Labour Government invented. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Which of the following statements is correct: Dr Worth saying this morning that he was confident that he had done nothing wrong or the Prime Minister saying last week that Dr Worth was stupid and unwise? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Prime Minister laid out his expectations very clearly to Dr Worth and he is satisfied that Dr Worth has met those expectations. I am still waiting to hear the apology from Labour for wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on the Tertiary Education Commission when it is now getting up and complaining about a helicopter ride by a National Minister. When are you going to apologise for the enormous waste of public money— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I have recognised a point of order. There will be silence. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: It is quite a long time since you have had responsibility for education matters and asking you to apologise is I think inappropriate. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member makes a perfectly fair point but the exchange in question time is important for the moment. 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: I would not want there to be any ambiguity. I was asking when Labour is going to apologise. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I appreciate that. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Is Dr Worth correct in saying this morning that “I am not on final warning” after his third conversation with the Prime Minister on Saturday night about non-disclosure of interests; if so has “one strike and you’re out” as a high standard of ministerial behaviour become “three strikes and you’re not even on notice”? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Prime Minister has made his position absolutely clear. He has set out his expectations of how Cabinet Ministers ought to behave and Dr Worth has the obligation to meet those expectations. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Is the Prime Minister’s failure to effectively deal with Dr Worth because last year Mr Key himself failed to acknowledge his conflict of interest in holding shares in Tranz Rail? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: It is a bit rich to hear Labour talking about conflict of interest when in Government it had Parliament pass a law to in the first place make legal its illegal and fraudulent expenditure of taxpayers’ money on the pledge card; and secondly to write a set of rules for our electoral system that were explicitly designed to favour it when it was broke. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Will the Prime Minister act to remove Dr Worth from his portfolios if there are further undisclosed conflicts of interest? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Prime Minister has stated many times that he has set out his expectations about how a Minister should behave and it is up to the Minister to meet those expectations.