Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 24 July 2007. Volume:640;Page:10600. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
6.  
GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam) 
 to the  
Minister for the Environment 
: When was he first informed Madeleine Setchell had been appointed communications manager at the Ministry for the Environment and who informed him? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Minister for the Environment) 
: 
 I am advised that on 28 May my adviser informed me that he had received confirmation of a rumour that a recent appointment to the role of communications manager in the Ministry for the Environment was the partner of the chief press secretary in the office of the Leader of the Opposition. The person was unknown personally either to myself or to my adviser and it was not until sometime later that I became aware the person’s name was Madeleine Setchell. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Did the Minister have any discussions with his adviser Steve Hurring subsequent to the advice that he had received about Madeleine Setchell’s position at the Ministry for the Environment and was that prior to Mr Hurring phoning the chief executive of the ministry to inform him of her personal relationship; if so what was the nature of that discussion? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: No. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: If we are to believe that the Minister did not know of the appointment or of any conflict of interest and did not express concerns to Mr Logan why was it only after Mr Hurring’s phone call and the subsequent discussion between Mr Logan and the Minister that the State Services Commission became involved and Ms Setchell was moved on? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: It is my understanding that the State Services Commission became involved on the request of Mr Logan when he went to Dr Prebble for advice. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Can he inform the House as to whether Mr Logan took the step of going to see Dr Prebble because he had had the message from the Minister’s office that he had to do something about the situation because the Minister found the appointment unacceptable? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I think the clearest answer to that question is in the words of Mr Rennie in the State Services Commissioner’s report that my colleague Mrs King tabled last Friday. I will read paragraph 3 and will ask for leave of the House to table the document at the end of this question: “The possibility of an issue was brought to the attention of the Chief Executive Mr Hugh Logan by way of a phone call from the office of the Minister for the Environment after Ms Setchell had started work at the Ministry. This phone call enquired as to whether Ms Setchell’s partner was a senior member of the Leader of the Opposition’s staff. The staff member from the Minister’s office indicated that it would be helpful to know whether this was true but also stressed that it was entirely the chief executive’s responsibility to make decisions on the employment of staff.” 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Does he consider Mr Hurring’s phone call was acceptable; if not what action does he intend to take regarding Mr Hurring and if it will be nothing more than a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket does he believe that that will confirm for public servants that if they want to make progress under a Labour Government they had best join the Labour Party? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: It is not difficult to understand that the call could have been unwise because there was a danger that it might have been misinterpreted—as has certainly been the case with a number of the media reports of this matter. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Is it not true that if the Minister had not kicked up a fuss Ms Setchell could be in that position today carrying out her duties with all the integrity expected of a public servant and proving that these things are possible if it were not for the Minister’s own petulant display in this regard? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: It is not accurate to suggest that I kicked up a fuss and I will refer the member again to the absolutely clear description of events that was released by Mr Rennie last week. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I seek leave to table a copy of the film  
Primary Colors 
 which will give us all a chance to see the kind of fictional setting that Gerry Brownlee believes in. 
Document not tabled. 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I seek leave of the House to table the briefing from the State Services Commissioner that I referred to earlier. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I seek leave to table the film  
Wag the Dog 
 which is a perfect replication of what happens in the Labour Government. 
Document not tabled. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. This is a serious point of order. There is an old English saying that the malady of the ignorant is to be ignorant without knowing it and that example given by Gerry Brownlee he knows could be imaged as being true but in fact is not.  
Madam SPEAKER 
: That is not a valid point of order.