Key John: General Debate 
Key John: General Debate 
[Volume:632;Page:3995] 
JOHN KEY (National—Helensville) 
: 
 The one defining difference between Steve Maharey and everybody else in the Labour caucus is that Steve Maharey is the only one who does not want to be Minister of Finance when Michael Cullen goes. 
Tonight I am making a great sacrifice I must be honest. At 4.20 tonight I am getting on a plane to fly to Palmerston North to give a speech at a public meeting. I am doing so because the locals of Palmerston North have asked me to come and give them some real representation. I am giving up the National Party’s mid-winter Christmas function an invite to which is always very sought after and which is always very well attended. I am going to Palmerston North because I know as the people there know that that electorate is a marginal seat. The only difference between Steve Maharey and all those who are on Labour’s despatch list is that Steve Maharey knows he is No. 3 on the list which means that for at least 12 to 18 months after the election he will be safe. 
They assembled on the night of 13 March. It was a balmy summer evening and Cabinet had just broken up. But their business for the night was not done. Four Ministers—Michael Cullen David Parker Lianne Dalziel and Damien O’Connor—were accompanied by Rob Fyfe the chief executive officer of Air New Zealand John Palmer the chairman and Ken Douglas that well-known Labour supporter. These were Ministers whose portfolios when it came to Air New Zealand represented more conflicts than one would find on an average day in downtown Baghdad. They were Ministers who knew they should not be in that room together and who over the last 2 days have found themselves in the very uncomfortable position of having to answer some very uncomfortable questions. 
Michael Cullen who remains the shareholding Minister of Air New Zealand is responsible for looking after the value of Air New Zealand. David Parker the Minister of Transport at the time had oversight responsibility for the regulator of Air New Zealand. Most important he was the person who would have determined the crucial decision of whether Air New Zealand would get the green light for its code-sharing operation. He was also and remains the Minister who would decide on the climate change policy that was very important to Air New Zealand. The third of the important three who had the most conflict was Lianne Dalziel who has oversight for the Commerce Act and who on 22 May said: “If ‘New Zealand Inc’ is to be truly competitive on a global scale then we need to consider whether the strict application of competition policy is inhibiting our capacity in any way.” That led Fran O’Sullivan to write in the  
New Zealand Herald  
on 24 May that Air New Zealand had been lobbying for a review of the Commerce Act arguing it should have rights around it. 
Just 5 days prior to the meeting on 13 March Dr Cullen received from Treasury an update that outlined the current issues on Air New Zealand’s agenda. The first issue was the code share. Dr Cullen who has had an amazing number of conflicts admitted to the House yesterday: “I absent myself from any discussions or decision making relating to aviation. … I absent myself from any discussions on aviation regulation. I leave the Cabinet room or the Cabinet committee room if any of those matters arise.” 
He went to dinner with two or three other Ministers who had direct conflict. It is a very interesting position. This is the Minister of Finance who agreed to attend a dinner where there were wine lists where there were menus where there were very important matters to discuss and where there were conflicts all over the show but incredibly there were no officials and no notes. Well how jolly convenient for the Minister of Finance. This is from a Government that is not too averse to using notes taken by junior officials even if they are never corroborated by officials and are never backed up. This is a Minister who knows that when notes are out there and officials are present the truth could come out and he did not want officials at that meeting. So that was the plan. It was jolly convenient. It was Monday night—they could go and watch  
Desperate Housewives 
 and not bother coming to the meeting.