Shaw James: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeShaw James: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 24 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4695. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]2.JAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green) to the Prime Minister: Does he still have confidence in the Minister of Foreign Affairs?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Yes.James Shaw: How can he have confidence in a Minister who has repeatedly championed the private interests of a disgruntled Saudi businessman over the New Zealand public’s interest?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I think the member is completely and utterly wrong on that statement.James Shaw: Has he asked Murray McCully who suggested that Mr Al Khalaf sue the New Zealand Government; if so will he tell the House who it was?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I am advised that no Minister told any party to sue the Government. Ministers as I have said before from time to time will certainly say that people are free to test their legal rights. That is because we live in a democracy with an independent judicial system and actually people are free to test their legal rights.James Shaw: Which one of Murray McCully’s statements about the roll over of the live sheep exports ban in 2010 does he believe: the one to the House on 27 May that “What was different was that we did not mislead the Saudi investors about the consequences of the roll over of that order. We fronted up and told them the truth.” or his statement yesterday that “Well he did not tell me anything because I did not talk to him about that particular roll-over.”?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I would want to see the full context of all the things that are said but what I can say in relation to the first statement is Mr McCully is absolutely right—this was a problem created by the previous Labour Government.James Shaw: Given that answer and given that the November 2011 letter to Murray McCully 3 weeks before the 2011 election says that “Mr Al Khalaf has been working patiently with the New Zealand Government of the last 7 years towards the resumption of the sheep trade. He is now deeply concerned”—he is now in November 2011 deeply concerned—“that despite repeated Government assurances that progress towards resumption of the trade was continuing this has now stalled.” How can he continue to believe Murray McCully’s assertions that the threat of a $30 million lawsuit was entirely Labour’s fault?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The member has actually defeated his own question because that is exactly the point. Seven years prior to 2011 we were not the Government. We were not the Government that travelled to Riyadh to inform the Saudis that live sheep exports would continue. We were not the Government that deliberately did not tell the Saudis and we are certainly aware that the actions of the previous Government as the previous Government was aware created legal commercial and diplomatic risks. What we are is the Government that has tidied up this mess.James Shaw: So is the Prime Minister saying that he was not in office between 2008 and 2011 given that the letter says that Mr Al Khalaf has been working patiently with the New Zealand Government of the last 7 years in November 2011?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I do not want to give the member a basic lesson but there was not one Government for 7 years; there were a number of Governments over that period of time. But the Government that created this problem is called the Labour Government.James Shaw: Is the reason that the Prime Minister is not moving to sack the Minister of Foreign Affairs that everybody knows that Murray McCully knows where all the bed—bodies are buried?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Oh he came to the leadership with such high hopes and we have already got down to these levels. The member knows in his own heart that he is better than that. The Minister of Foreign Affairs dealt with the situation created by Labour. It was a mess. Labour knew it created it. It was advised it delivered commercial legal and diplomatic risks. This Government sought to resolve that issue in a way that I think has been good for the relationship with both countries and will progress the relationships together.