Connell Brian: Public Finance (State Sector Management) Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Connell Brian: Public Finance (State Sector Management) Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Sitting date: 14 December 2004. Volume:622;Page:17878. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
BRIAN CONNELL (National—Rakaia) 
: 
 I have to start by saying that I have heard some nonsense in the time that I have been in this Chamber but this would have to be the worst type of nonsense I have heard thus far. 
Craig McNair 
: Apart from the Civil Union Bill. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: Apart from the Civil Union Bill as some member has called out. Why do we need to legislate for this type of fundamental activity that we would see in any business? This is plain good old-fashioned human resource management. I have to say to the Minister in the chair Mr Mallard and to members that if I came across a chief executive officer who was not doing this as a matter of course then I would simply fire that person because he or she would not be worthy of having that job title. This is the sort of thing that we expect would come naturally to any senior executive in any organisation across this nation that we would care to name. Putting this type of stuff into legislation will not change that one iota and that is a great fallacy. That shows the inexperience of the Minister in the chair and of some of the Ministers in this Government who think that if they put this sort of stuff into legislation then it will suddenly happen. 
Well let me tell those members that it does not change anything at all. If this is not inherent in one’s make-up as a senior executive then it will not happen just because it has now been put in writing and is legislated for. What a waste of this Parliament’s time and a waste of taxpayers’ money this is. How many minions are crawling over this part of this bill putting this sort of stuff in place? 
The State Services Commissioner will become a very powerful person if this legislation gets up and running. That is dangerous because if we read part of what is intended in this bill he or she can be manipulated by the responsible Minister and that is a very dangerous principle. The commissioner would surely be intimidated by a member of this current Government because it is morally corrupt and we have seen the evidence of that time and time again throughout the course of the last couple of years. 
The Government is asking members of this Parliament to accept that it is a Government that will set minimum standards of integrity. I look across to the Government benches and see Jim Sutton. He sat in the back of a speeding car all the way from Waimate up to Christchurch airport so that the Prime Minister could go and watch a game of rugby—which she does not like in the first place—simply so that she could be seen to be there. The Prime Minister’s defence was: “I didn’t know how fast I was going because I was having a conversation with Jim Sutton.” Well no one can have a conversation with Jim Sutton for more than 5 minutes let alone 1½ hours but we are expected to believe that. 
The great nonsense about this bill is that all those requirements are already in legislation anyway. This is the law. Let us look at some of the requirements such as employers have to be good employers and adhere to equal opportunity legislation. Is that to be sure to be sure? Are we legislating to be sure that the legislation that we have already legislated for will be adhered to? It is already in the law. This is good old-fashioned succession planning. We will legislate to make sure that we know how to get succession into chief executive roles in New Zealand corporations or State services. How pathetic is that? It is the law but here the Government is repeating it again and again. 
Let us look at some of the examples. Clause 40A “General principles” proposes to substitute section 56(1) of the State Sector Act with a new section 56(1) that will provide: “(1) The chief executive of a Department must—(a) operate a personnel policy that complies with the principle of being a good employer; …”. I ask the Minister what will be different in future from what is already happening in New Zealand in any business that he could care to name? How will that provision change anything? Well the Minister should get on his feet and take a call because it is a very fair question. How will that provision change anything?