Hipkins Chris: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHipkins Chris: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 07 May 2014. Volume:698;Page:17568. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]8.CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) to thePrime Minister: Is he satisfied that all of his Ministers have fully complied with section 2.54 of theCabinet Manual; if so how does he satisfy himself that those provisions are being adhered to?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Yes. Ministers are not permitted to accept additional payments without my permission. Of course if any were accepted they would need to be declared in the register of pecuniary interests.Chris Hipkins: Can he guarantee that no members of the Cabinet club have used their paid access to Ministers at a cost of $10000 a year to lobby for changes in legislation Government policy or specific ministerial interventions; if not why not? [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Prime Minister may not have heard the question. I had trouble hearing it and the reason it is difficult to hear is the level of interjection coming from my right-hand side. I will ask the member to repeat his supplementary question.Chris Hipkins: Can he guarantee that no members of the Cabinet club have used their paid access to Ministers—at a cost reportedly of up to $10000 per year—to lobby for changes in legislation Government policy or specific ministerial interventions; if not why not?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: As I said in answer to the earlier question what is quite clear is that Ministers can go to Cabinet clubs or other fund-raising events—actually Labour did those sorts of events the entire time it was in Government. What the Ministers are quite capable of doing is talking about their ministerial portfolios and areas of interest. The Government makes decisions based on its own analysis and its own decisions.Chris Hipkins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: Can I just say to the member that if he is going to raise a point of order about whether that question was addressed I can assure the member the question was addressed.Chris Hipkins: A supplementary question then. Can he guarantee that none of the people attending Cabinet club meetings have a potential beneficial interest in the decisions of the Ministers they are paying up to $10000 to rub shoulders with; if not why not?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Political parties right across Parliament attend events that are fund-raising events. People always have interests—of course they do; that is the real world. In the same way the Labour Party accepted $60000 from Phillip Mills—Labour and the Greens accepted $60000 and $65000 respectively—and very soon afterwards the Labour Party started promoting green growth. We know that Shane Jones for instance had his leadership bid funded in part by the oil and gas sector and again very soon came out and started talking about that. I have quite a long list. If Labour members really want to invite me to table all of those they are welcome to do that but I just make one little warning to them: do not go there. But if you want me to I am more than happy to.Chris Hipkins: Are Cabinet club events open to all those wishing to attend or only those who are willing to pay an annual subscription to be a member of the club?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: They are fund-raising events like many fund-raising events. As I said earlier they are quite within theCabinet Manual. The one thing that is a good point here though is that quite simply we declare our donations. People know where they come from. What do we know about David Cunliffe? He raises money and he will not say where that money came from.Chris Hipkins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question was pretty specific. It was about whether the events were open to anybody or only to those willing to pay a subscription. The Prime Minister has not even addressed that part of the question.Mr SPEAKER: The Prime Minister was certainly addressing the question—maybe not to the member’s satisfaction. He has further supplementary questions and he should use them.Chris Hipkins: If the Cabinet club is such a legitimate fund-raising tool for the National Party is he satisfied with the answers his Ministers gave yesterday when asked about it such as Paula Bennett who said: “I’m not sure. I’m not sure.” and Anne Tolley who said: “I don’t know. What is Cabinet club?”. Why are they trying to hide it?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: People are entitled to give their own perspectives. Not every electorate has a Cabinet club. Others call them different things—pizza and politics; a range of things. But what I do know is this and members on the other side will be interested to know. We declare our donations. Does the Labour Party? [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! Order! You can have the conversation afterwards.