Power Simon: Offices of Parliament — Address to Governor-General 
Power Simon: Offices of Parliament — Address to Governor-General 
[Volume:672;Page:18478] 
Hon SIMON POWER (Acting Leader of the House) 
: 
 I move  
That a respectful Address be presented to His Excellency the Governor-General commending to His Excellency the alterations to the appropriations for the 2010/11 financial year in respect of Vote Audit Vote Ombudsmen and Vote Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and the appropriations and information for the 2011/12 financial year in respect of Vote Audit Vote Ombudsmen and Vote Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.  
In order to maintain the independence of the three Offices of Parliament the Public Finance Act 1989 provides for funding for the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General the Office of the Ombudsmen and the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment to be determined by Parliament through the Officers of Parliament Committee. The Officers of Parliament Committee has considered submissions from each officer detailing proposed alterations to their 2010-11 appropriations and their draft budget for 2011-12 and out-years and has reached decisions on the funding required for the offices to carry out their duties. 
The details for each vote are set out in the Officers of Parliament Committee report presented to the House on 30 March 2011. Each of the three votes is to be increased in accordance with the Remuneration Authority’s determination. Vote Audit will receive $400000 per annum from 2011-12 for the Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions funded through the State Sector Development Partnerships Fund administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This will be focused on completing a Pacific Islands forum programme to develop the capacity of Auditors-General in the Pacific. Vote Audit will also receive a capital injection of $2.2 million in 2011-12 to bring together the Office of the Auditor-General and Audit New Zealand in one location. 
Vote Ombudsmen will receive a number of increases including $160000 in 2010-11 to account for earthquake damage to the Christchurch office $230000 from 2013-14 to fund an ongoing monitoring programme to help meet the commitments of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities $38000 in 2011-12 and $337000 in 2012-13 to host the International Ombudsman Institute conference $30000 in 2011-12 to assess accommodation options and funding of $50000 in 2011-12 and $370000 per annum in 2012-13 and 2013-14 to assist with a backlog of cases. On that last point I understand that the current backlog will be compounded by an expected influx of inquiries following the two Christchurch earthquakes and the Pike River disaster. 
I was pleased to learn that complaints under the Official Information Act concerning decisions by Ministers of the Crown averaged 144 for the first 2 years of this Government compared with 264 for the first 2 years of the previous Government. On a related matter the Ombudsmen have noted that unlike other jurisdictions they are required to follow up all complaints even those considered vexatious or frivolous.