Norman Russel William: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Norman Russel William: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:664;Page:11866] 
1. 
Dr RUSSEL NORMAN (Co-Leader—Green) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: When he raised human rights with the Chinese delegation last week did he raise the right to freedom of opinion and expression; if not why not? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Acting Prime Minister) 
: 
 No because the main focus of the discussions was on trade and economic relations between New Zealand and the People’s Republic of China. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Does he stand by his statement on  
Morning Report 
 that MPs should be allowed to protest only silently and is silent protest the kind of freedom of expression that he would have liked to discuss with the Chinese delegation? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Yes the Prime Minister stands by his comments. Of course MPs have the right to protest. Equally visitors to the Parliament of New Zealand have a right to conduct themselves in and out of the building with dignity. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Does he agree that in order to have freedom of speech one has to be allowed to speak? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Yes and the member has the right at any stage to speak his point of view. I think the incident that we are referring to here amounted to slightly more than the member’s just speaking. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: In reference to his first answer if the Prime Minister did not raise freedom of expression in his discussions with the Chinese Vice-President then what human rights issues specifically were raised with the Chinese Vice-President? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: I cannot answer that question because I was not at the meeting. But I can confirm that human rights are raised regularly with the Chinese Government at both ministerial and official level. 
Keith Locke 
: Is he aware that the Chinese Government has imprisoned Tibetans for raising their own national flag and will he uphold the right of New Zealanders to fly that same flag even when the sight of it upsets a visiting Chinese dignitary? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Anyone in New Zealand is free to fly that flag and from what I saw of the recent visit it was flown on many occasions. 
Hon Rodney Hide 
: Has the Prime Minister seen Television New Zealand’s extended footage on its web page which at 18 seconds in shows the Green co-leader Russel Norman clearly elbowing a Chinese official and the Green co-leader assaulting the official before the scuffle over the flag took place? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: I have seen the footage and it does show the co-leader of the Green Party shuffling a bit with the Chinese security. I think he was trying to prevent them getting in front of him. I think it also showed something else that has not really been referred to and that is that when it looks like a Chinese official went to take the flag from Russel Norman the New Zealand Diplomatic Protection Squad protected the New Zealand member of Parliament from those security. I have to say though that as a whole it is a picture of an event that we would not like to see occur to our Prime Minister in a foreign country and I do not think we should see it occur to any visitor to New Zealand. 
Sue Kedgley 
: Can he explain why his Government is protesting vigorously against the Fijian Government because it is crushing democracy and human rights there but is rolling out the red carpet to the Chinese Government which is doing the same and even worse in China and Tibet? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The New Zealand Government deals with each of those countries on their own merits relative to the history that we have with them. The New Zealand Government has clear views on how human rights should be exercised in Fiji and equally clear views on how they should be exercised in China. 
Dr Russel Norman 
: Has the New Zealand Government received an apology from the Chinese Communist Party Government for using physical force against a member of the New Zealand Parliament in the parliamentary grounds? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Well I suggest the member go and look at the footage on the Television One website. They may be expecting an apology from the New Zealand member of Parliament for the use of force on one of their security officials in the grounds of the New Zealand Parliament.