Hide Rodney: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Hide Rodney: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:627;Page:22164] 
1. RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: For any prime ministerial motorcade who makes the decision about the speed at which the motorcade travels and what responsibility does the Prime Minister have for that decision? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister) 
: 
 I am advised that operational decisions regarding motorcades are taken by the police. I as Prime Minister have no involvement and I will make no further comment on matters related to a case before the courts. 
Rodney Hide 
: Will she take this opportunity now publicly to apologise to those New Zealanders who were left in fear from the speeding motorcade particularly as she was quite happy at the time to say that she did not have any fear for the safety of other New Zealanders when in fact that is not so; if she will not why not? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I will not be making any further comment on this matter. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: How could she not know about the speed of the car she was travelling in on the day in question when the windscreen of her car had to be repaired and replaced and a front paint job done because of the gravel and stones coming off the car in front of her car the one she was riding in and would not that be something she would notice in her busy schedule of reading her documents at 140 kilometres an hour? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: As I have said I will not be making any comment on a matter before the courts. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Now that the matter is sub judice the Prime Minister might take that stance but why would she not tell the truth when it was not sub judice and when she was previously asked about that travel? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: As the member knows it is a requirement to tell the truth in this House. I have nothing further to say about a matter before the courts. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Chair. I asked the Prime Minister why she did not outline the facts of the case prior to the matter being sub judice which has nothing to do with the questions being asked in this House but has to do with a prior time and she cannot evade it on the basis of her answer today. It is simply a case of whether she told the truth outside the House when she was originally asked about the speed of that motorcade. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I remind the member that I am not in the position of Chair during question time; it is the position of Speaker. I also note that the Prime Minister did address the question though obviously of course it may not have been to the satisfaction of the member. 
Dr Muriel Newman 
: What does the Prime Minister say to those New Zealanders who see ordinary policemen being hung to dry for just doing their job which was trying to get her to a rugby game that she did not really care about watching but she did want to be seen at? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I repeat I have no comment to make on a case before the courts. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: If the Prime Minister has no comment to make now why did she say at the time: “It wasn’t Helen Clark private citizen rushing to a rugby match. It was Helen Clark as Prime Minister with a set of public engagements for the day.” and does she accept that that view would have put high expectations on those who were accompanying her on that day? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I repeat what I said earlier—that operational decisions around motorcades are taken by the police. 
Ron Mark 
: Is the Prime Minister asking the people of New Zealand to believe that as a passenger in a car that was travelling in excess of 170 kilometres an hour over gravel roads with stones that were being thrown up hammering her car so badly that it had to be repainted and the windscreen had to be replaced when braking accelerating and overtaking cars on the road was going on all the while she had her head down totally oblivious to everything that was happening because she was concentrating on her work and would the public not be right in thinking that most normal New Zealanders’ knuckles would be white as they clenched to hold on in such a circumstance? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I have no comment to make on a matter that is before the courts. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Does the Prime Minister think for a moment that the people in charge of the speed of the car would have driven that car at that speed if she had not agreed with the speed they were travelling at; and if she does not think so why has she not come out and at least made an apology to those men who are now before the court rather than hide behind her putative office? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: There is nothing putative about the election of the Prime Minister. I repeat operational decisions about motorcades are taken by the police. 
Rodney Hide 
: Can she confirm that the Government is considering using Greg Murphy to spearhead an advertising campaign targeting young drivers against speed—which the ACT party fully supports especially in light of the tragic events at the weekend—and will she consider funding the second part of that advertising campaign which would be her going on television to apologise for the speed of the motorcade and explaining to New Zealanders that speed kills? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I have no knowledge of any proposed advertising campaign of that nature. 
Rodney Hide 
: Was the Prime Minister telling the truth outside the House when she said that she was so engrossed in conversation and so hard at work in the back seat of a car travelling in tight convoy that she had no idea that they were travelling at speeds in excess of 170 kilometres an hour? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: As I said in earlier answers I have no comment to make on a matter before the courts.