Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:620;Page:15747] 
8.  
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay Of Plenty) 
 to the  
Minister for Courts 
: Who approved the “special arrangement” with the chairperson of the Human Rights Review Tribunal which saw him get paid almost $300000 last year and what knowledge did Ministers have of this “special arrangement”? 
Hon RICK BARKER (Minister for Courts) 
: 
 The chairperson was appointed on a part-time basis. It later became clear that the caseload required a full-time position. Cabinet approved the establishment of a full-time position in the 2004-05 Budget. Until this position is established and an appropriate remuneration set the existing chairperson has been working greatly increased hours at a rate that covers his time and also the costs of servicing his office. That arrangement was recommended by the Department for Courts and the Minister at the time was aware of it. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: How does the Government justify paying the part-time head of a peripheral tribunal more cash than say the Prime Minister of New Zealand—a tribunal that thinks one of the worst killers in our country’s prisons should be paid $1200 in compensation for hurt feelings? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: The rate that was agreed to with the head of the tribunal was slightly more than what the Crown engages Crown solicitors for. The rate is not only for the hours worked but also covers the maintenance of an office. That includes costs for staff holiday pay accident compensation office rental insurance information technology and software systems—all of those elements have to be paid by that chairperson out of the hourly rate he has. The Prime Minister’s salary and judges’ salaries are separate. In addition to their salaries all the extra support services are paid for either by the Ministry of Justice in the case of judges or by Ministerial Services in the case of the Prime Minister. 
Martin Gallagher 
: What caused the department to increase the hours of work for the Human Rights Review Tribunal chairperson? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: There was concern about the build-up of cases and the need to provide a timely service to claimants. In October 2003 there was a backlog of 57 cases at the tribunal. Today there is no backlog. I am sure the Opposition would join with me in saying that that is an excellent result. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Knowing the Prime Minister’s pledge to end the culture of extravagance why did no Cabinet Minister express any concern about paying a part-time chairman a salary that puts him above a Court of Appeal judge and makes him one of the State’s top earners and why did this Minister not express any concern at all about that? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: That member continues to misrepresent the situation but firstly no Cabinet Minister expressed concern because we have taken action. The position will be a full-time permanent position and the remuneration for that individual will be set by the Remuneration Authority. The misrepresentation is that this payment is not just a salary; it is also a rate that incorporates the maintenance of chambers the payment of staff information technology systems etc. which the basic salary for a High Court judge does not incorporate. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Is the Minister seriously telling the House that when the Minister approved this special arrangement it was always his intention to make the position a full-time one? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: It is certainly the Government’s intention to make this a full-time position and I want to make sure—and I am confident—that that will be concluded in November this year. But at the time that the decision was made I was not the Minister and I cannot say what was in the former Minister’s mind. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Minister is responsible but the Minister can say that it was a decision of the former Minister. He can answer or say that he does not know. 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: I do not know what was in the mind of the former Minister but I can tell the House that the Government’s intention is to regularise this position and it will be fixed. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: If this Minister is so keen to justify that extraordinary level of payment which is beyond what a Court of Appeal judge receives why were the details of that special arrangement suppressed when the papers were released under the Official Information Act? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: The fact is that this is not an arrangement that sees the individual paid more in a salary than a High Court judge because a High Court judge is paid a salary for a justice and the costs of running the office are met separately by the Ministry of Justice. The member is not comparing apples with apples. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Now the Minister will come to the member’s question: why was the information blacked out? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: I presume it was because those details were relevant to the particular individual and were of a confidential nature. If the member does not like the fact that they were blacked out he has a right of appeal in terms of that decision. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: I seek leave to table a number of documents. The first is the budget proposal for the Human Rights Review Tribunal restructuring in which the information was blacked out. 
Documents not tabled. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: The second set of documents is the answers to written questions where the Minister provided the full information that had been blacked out in the original document. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table those documents. Is there any objection? There is.