Kaye Nikki: State Sector and Public Finance Reform Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKaye Nikki: State Sector and Public Finance Reform Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 02 July 2013. Volume:691;Page:11646. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NIKKI KAYE (Minister for Food Safety):It is a pleasure to take a call on Part 2 of the State Sector and Public Finance Reform Bill. I have listened to several very technical speeches from the Opposition and I want to also just briefly remind us why we are here. It is great to see cross-party agreement in terms of public sector reform. It is also great to see as well that members are paying such attention to detail.I want to touch on a few speeches that have just come before us. Firstly I was surprised given David Parker’s extensive legal experience that he needed me to walk him through some definitions in the bill. He asked what a “responsible Minister” is and what the difference is between that term and “the Minister” so I am happy to walk him through that. “The Minister” refers to the Minister of Finance and “the responsible Minister” refers to the Minister responsible for a department. I am very pleased to correct that for Mr Parker.Hon David Parker: Clarify.Hon NIKKI KAYE: The second clause—the other clarification that Mr Parker asked for was around amendments to section 80 in clause 75 so I am as well very pleased to give him some clarification regarding that. That change is specifically to enable Treasury to also be able to issue instructions to new departmental agencies for the purposes of section 81(1)(a) so I am glad that I am able to clarify that as well. The other thing that Mr Mallard raised was around defining “departmental expenses” and whether we need to do that. There are a couple—Hon Trevor Mallard: “Departmental”.Hon NIKKI KAYE: That is right—“departmental expenses” and the reason that we need to do that. There are a couple of things. We want to be more explicit about chief executive responsibilities for departmental versus non-departmental expenses. That is the first reason. The second thing that I wanted to make clear is that “departmental” and “non-departmental” are mutually exclusive. The third point is that the terms are used throughout the bill and not everybody who is reading that bill will necessarily have the experience that that member has in terms of that difference between “non-departmental” and “departmental”. So I am very very pleased to be listening so intently to the Opposition speakers. But I want to make this point about why we are here. We are actually here to create greater flexibility in terms of our public sector so that we can focus on outcomes.I want to finish with one quote by a member opposite because I think it was the best quote that we heard tonight. It was a speech by David Cunliffe. It was a great quote. Compared with some of his colleagues who focused on very technical issues he said “We need to do more with possibly a little bit more but even less.” and I felt that that is a seismic shift in New Zealand politics. It is a seismic shift from the Opposition. I am delighted that members opposite have now supported our policy in terms of public sector reform.