Curran Clare: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Curran Clare: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 14 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:319. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
12. 
CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South) 
 to the  
Minister of Broadcasting 
: Does he believe that appointing the Rt Hon John Key’s electorate chair Stephen McElrea to the board of NZ On Air was appropriate? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS (Minister of Broadcasting) 
: 
 Yes as I do for all current members of the NZ On Air board. 
Clare Curran 
: Have the expectations placed on NZ On Air board members to conduct themselves in a politically neutral manner and avoid conflicts of interest been met by Mr McElrea during his time on the board of NZ On Air? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: The board chair tells me he has full confidence in his members. I have full confidence in the chair and therefore the board. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It was a very straight question about a particular member and having— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member knows full well having listened to the question that it asked an opinion about a member’s behaviour. The Minister answered in the way he saw fit: he said that the chair of the board has confidence in the behaviour of the member and the Minister himself has confidence in the chair. That may not have been exactly the answer the member wanted but that is not an unreasonable answer.  
Clare Curran 
: Was Mr McElrea’s political connection to the Prime Minister considered during the appointment process? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: The process for all board appointees follows the standard due diligence process in place for all Crown entity appointments. Vacancies on the NZ On Air board are addressed using the regular process outlined by the State Services Commission and the  
Cabinet Manual 
 which has been standard since the introduction of the Crown Entities Act in 2004. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I think I’ll just say ibid. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think on this occasion the question did ask whether a certain matter was considered. Now the Minister is directly responsible for appointments and it would be reasonable that the Minister may know such information so I invite Clare Curran to repeat her question.  
Clare Curran 
: Was Mr McElrea’s political connection to the Prime Minister considered during the appointment process? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: I am confident that full processes were handled for this appointment as they are for all Crown entity appointments including the gentleman in question and all other members of the NZ On Air board. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Again it was quite a direct one. It may be that you could interpret that as a yes or a no or somewhere in between but I do not think anyone over here could tell whether the political connections had been considered. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The honourable gentleman has been around this place near as long as I have and political appointments on boards are not new. It would be quite normal for the standard appointments procedure to consider all those—whether or not political affiliations can be compromising. And if the standard procedure is followed then I guess that matter was considered. I cannot force the Minister—unless I am wrong there. If I am wrong there the Minister had better correct me because what I am indicating is that yes any political relationships would have been considered to make sure that they would not unduly compromise the appointment. Now if I am wrong there the Minister had better correct the—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I just want to say thank you. 
Hon David Parker 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The problem with the answer is that we are left guessing as you are left guessing in your interpretation of the answer from— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The member will resume his seat. Look I do not want to be too silly about this but we all know that even I could rattle off all the political appointments under the previous Labour Government and questions could be raised as to whether there were any compromises. I am sure there could be cases raised where—and so there is nothing new about this. The point I am making as Speaker is that the Minister has said the procedure followed was standard. Therefore those matters would have been—[ 
Interruption 
] What the member is trying to tell me as Speaker is that under Labour such considerations were not part of the standard process. 
Hon Members 
: Oh! 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Well if that is not the case then the answer is reasonable. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. We do appreciate your explanations because frankly what you have said is that the Minister should have no difficulty in answering yes but he will not answer the question. Frankly you have told him twice that that would be normal and therefore— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! We are not going to spend more time on this silly point. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: That’s right. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The Minister may have all sorts of reasons why he answered the question the way he did. It is his decision to answer the question the way he did but it is perfectly obvious from the way he answered the question that all considerations—including political considerations—would have been taken into account because that is the way it has always been.  
Clare Curran 
: Has he or any other Minister had any communication with Mr McElrea regarding the child poverty documentary; if so what was the content of that communication? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: I cannot actually answer for any other Ministers but as far as this Minister is concerned no. I have met Mr McElrea once at a social function prior to Christmas. That is as far as I can recall the only communication I have had directly with him. 
Clare Curran 
: Given Mr McElrea complained about the child poverty documentary on 17 November before it was screened as admitted by the Prime Minister in media reports and as has been revealed in Official Information Act documents does this action not constitute political interference; if not why? 
Hon CRAIG FOSS 
: Again I am confident that the processes and the workings of NZ On Air are adequate as pursuant to the rules regulations and Acts that they are operating under.  
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I think we are having a repeat of previous points of order. Of these questions one might have been slightly loose but that was a very precise question. You might think that he said no; I might think he said yes. Maybe you could do what you did before and tell us what he meant. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! What I should do is put the honourable member on the spot and ask him—if he says it was a very precise question—to repeat the question because the question actually asked the Minister for his opinion about a certain course of action. That is what the question asked. The Minister gave his opinion. It might not have been quite the opinion members wanted but the Minister gave his opinion about how he sees that matter. The Minister’s answer was that he believed that the way the members of the board had carried on was quite proper in his view. The question sought an opinion: what the Minister thought about a certain action that had taken place whether that represented—what was it—a conflict of interest a compromise or something— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Political interference. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: —or political interference. The Minister answered it in the way he chose to answer. I cannot ask him to answer it exactly the way the members want him to answer since it asked his opinion. If it had sought facts and the facts were not given I would have much more opportunity to insist the Minister give the information but it sought an opinion from the Minister. The Minister gave an opinion that was a reasonable opinion in relation to the question asked.  
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Again I want to thank you. You indicated that the Minister indicated it was quite proper. We could not get that from his answer. 
Clare Curran 
: I seek leave to table an email from Stephen McElrea to the chair of NZ On Air and the chief executive of NZ On Air dated 17 November complaining about the child poverty documentary before it was screened. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is no objection. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.