Collins Judith: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Collins Judith: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:629;Page:1489] 
1. JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: What complaints if any has he been advised of that could seriously impact on his ability to carry out his job as Minister for Social Development and Employment? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 None. 
Judith Collins 
: Does he accept that complaints asserting that he acted inappropriately as a teacher were made against him and that his then headmaster Bruce Leadbetter had conversations with him about those complaints; if not why not? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: Had the House allowed me to make my personal explanation I would have discussed and traversed those matters but I can tell the member that I do not believe that anything I did was outside the school policy at the time. 
Judith Collins 
: Would the Minister now like to take this opportunity to revise his statement on 12 May 2005 when he asserted that he was not guilty of any inappropriate behaviour and that he was not aware of any complaints made against him? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I think that question from listening to it asked the Minister to respond to a matter for which he is not responsible at this time but for which he was responsible in a previous capacity. Would the member like to reconsider it? 
Judith Collins 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I think the Minister referred to the statement of 12 May 2005 in the answer he gave to the previous supplementary question so I think that if you consider my question you will find it is in order. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: The problem with the proposition put to you Madam Speaker by the member from the National Party is that Mr Benson-Pope is now being invited to do what National members denied him leave to do. That is totally inappropriate and it trivialises the proceedings of this House. Why did they oppose leave in the first place? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: That is not a point of order. The Minister may answer. But the question as I heard it—and maybe the member would like to repeat it—was in an Associate Minister of Education capacity which the Minister does not have at the moment. I ask the member to please redirect the question so that there is direct responsibility for it. 
Judith Collins 
: Does the Minister accept that the complaints that he denied on 12 May 2005 are such that they would affect his ability to carry out his job as the Minister for Social Development and Employment? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: No and I remain convinced that my conduct as a teacher was not inappropriate. However I do accept that the concerns of some former students were genuinely held and to them I offer an apology for any upset. 
Judith Collins 
: Can the Minister understand why many are sceptical that he has no recollection of complaints laid against him when the former principal of Bayfield High School states that he had discussed the complaint with him and school policies were actually changed as a result of those complaints about his behaviour? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I think that the member is again going back to matters for which the Minister is not responsible now. Would she like to comply with the Standing Orders. The Minister is responsible for matters at the moment as the Minister for Social Development and Employment. 
Judith Collins 
: Does the Minister agree with the views of John Armstrong writing in today’s  
New Zealand Herald  
that: “Beneficiaries are obliged to be straight about their personal circumstances in their dealings with Work and Income.”; and later: “… Mr Benson-Pope has lost all power of moral suasion in the portfolio.”; if not why not? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: No and had I been able to give my personal explanation I would have traversed a number of those matters. 
Judith Collins 
: What is so special about this Minister that he does not have to meet the same standards of honesty as those expected of beneficiaries? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I do not know what is special about this Minister but I do believe that I am a hard-working and an honest Minister. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. Twice during that question exchange the Minister expressed the desire to make a statement to the House. Mr Peters suggested that it was our problem that he did not. The reality is that a Minister can make a statement to the House at any time. We would certainly not block the Minister from making a ministerial statement now. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: That matter was put to the House and it has been determined. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. The matter has not been put to the House. It is a Minister’s choice at any time he or she likes to make a statement to the House. Mr Benson-Pope can at any point seek to make a ministerial statement. He does not need the leave of the House to make the explanations that he so clearly desires to make. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: There is a long convention in the House that when a Minister seeks to correct an answer in any shape or form then leave is granted. The National Party chose to deny that leave. It is most unusual for a ministerial statement to be the vehicle for correcting an answer in the House. The National Party must now take the consequences of refusing that leave. Everybody will draw the appropriate conclusions.