Twyford Phil; Willis Nicola; Brownlee Gerry; Hipkins ChrisAMENDED ANSWERS TO ORAL QUESTIONSQuestion No. 11 to MinisterHon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Transport): I seek leave to clarify or correct the answer that I gave that you referred to.SPEAKER: The member seeks leave to correct an answer that he made earlier. Is there any objection to that? There appears to be none.Hon PHIL TWYFORD: So the principle that I was trying to articulate was reflected in the Chief Ombudsman's recent opinion. In relation to political consultation between parties I agree that it is not the political convention that correspondence between Ministers is never released but when it's an inter-party consultation between Ministers then the convention set out by the Chief Ombudsman applies. If I may read the paragraph from the Chief Ombudsman's advice he says There is a strong interest in maintaining the Government's ability to undertake effective and efficient political consultation with political parties and to receive free and frank opinions from the political parties that have been consulted. This interest is heightened in the MMP environment where the relationships and agreements between parties are complex. It is vital in this environment that these parties are able to conduct free and frank discussions in a relationship of trust and confidence and in a timely manner."SPEAKER: The member was quoting from a document then? Was the member quoting from the letter?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: It's an excerpt from a letter.NICOLA WILLIS (National): I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker I seek your guidance. In the questions that have been answered in the House today the Minister answered those in the capacity as the Associate Minister of Transport. The Minister is now referring to the role of being a Green Party member or the role of being a Green Party representative. It's my understanding that when questions are answered by Ministers in this House they are answered in their capacity as Ministers and I question the relevance of this ruling to answers in this House.SPEAKER: Yes and I will go back because what may be the case is that I should not have accepted the original question yesterday. If that is the case—if in fact it was a question about a letter that was not written as a Minister then it is my responsibility for asking it. But that is something that we will not be able to sort out now and it is something that I will go back and look at because quite clearly all members have the ability to write other than in their ministerial capacity. People clearly on this side of the House have spokespersonship responsibilities. It can get complicated with Ministers who act both as spokespeople for their parties and as Ministers and often there are the same roles the same areas that are being covered. It behoves members who do have those complicated responsibilities to make it very clear in correspondence that they write the capacity in which they are writing. Now in this particular case I had worked on the assumption—the question could have originally been knocked out if there was a suggestion that it was a Green Party letter as opposed to a letter written as a Minister.Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam): I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I think your initial assessment of this is probably going to be proved correct because in the end if it were a Green Party letter to a Labour Party spokesman on the same area it would not be subject to the Official Information Act (OIA). It was released under the OIA because those who—SPEAKER: No. I don't think it was released. I think that's the whole point.Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: Sorry I meant "referred to" in the OIA and referred to again in the House by Ms Genter. I would have thought it would have been easy for Ms Genter to make the statement at the time that it was a non-ministerial communication. That has not been done.SPEAKER: And as I indicated I will have a bit more of a look at this question and if there is anything further to report I will.Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House): I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It is important that we note that the Official Information Act does not only cover written documentation. Therefore the House and members have to accept the views of those who are undertaking an exchange—whether it's a written one or a verbal one—about the capacity in which they were undertaking it. If I have a conversation with Tracey Martin for example sometimes it will be in our ministerial capacity around education and sometimes it will be in a party-to-party nature about an education matter. I don't say to Tracey Martin when I ring her up "I'm ringing you now in my capacity as the Labour Party spokesperson for education." but I could still be questioned on the interactions that I have and if I say that I was having a particular conversation in my capacity as the Labour Party spokesperson and Tracey Martin was responding in her capacity as the New Zealand First spokesperson we have to be taken at our word for that. Otherwise the conventions that this House operates under are going to start to crumble.Hon Paula Bennett: Point of order.Nicola Willis: Speaking to the point of order.SPEAKER: Well I'm going to take the Hon Paula Bennett as the last contribution on this because if people do have extra points that they want to make then they can send me a note.Hon PAULA BENNETT (Deputy Leader—National): I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Further to the point of order I also ask you to consider the answers in the House today from the Minister acting in that there was a very specific question from Chris Bishop saying in what capacity did she write the letter and it was very clear that it was in the capacity as the Associate Minister.SPEAKER: That's certainly an impression that I got but I think it was just slightly confused towards the end.Nicola Willis: Speaking to a new point of order.SPEAKER: On a different matter?NICOLA WILLIS (National): On a different matter. This relates to the document that the Minister quoted from and I'm asking that that document be tabled as an official document.SPEAKER: Order! And I'm suggesting that the member listen."