Coddington Deborah: Public Finance (State Sector Management) Bill — In Committee 
Coddington Deborah: Public Finance (State Sector Management) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:622;Page:17910] 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON (ACT) 
: 
 I want to comment on clause 210 “Offences” too. Tertiary institutions were deeply concerned about these provisions. If we take that clause and clause 211 “Penalties for offences” put them alongside some of the other clauses relating to statements of intent—whereby a responsible Minister can direct a supposedly stand-alone Crown entity as to what can be in the statement of intent and can amend it—then relate them to clauses that have been debated in earlier parts we can see a pattern emerge. That pattern leads to the final nail in the coffin for Crown entities being stand-alone and at arm’s length from the executive. 
The definition of what now comes under the control of the executive includes not just universities but also the Symphony Orchestra the Historic Places Trust and all those stand-alone entities. Sure they have always been Crown entities but this legislation gives far more power to the responsible Minister in terms of interfering with those entities. 
An example of how that is manifest today is the Government’s huge embarrassment over what is happening at TVNZ. First of all the Government appointed Ross Armstrong as chairman of TVNZ. That turned to custard. It appointed Craig Boyce as chairman. Do we have an effective board? No we do not. Another Government appointee Ann Hercus who is also on the financial committee signed off on Judy Bailey’s salary rise. Those negotiations have dragged on for so long and have been so ineptly handled. There was no poaching of Judy Bailey by any other company. It was simply the ineptness of the board that led to the situation whereby her salary was doubled. 
So what happened? The board signed off on it. Then one of the board members rushed to the Minister of Broadcasting to tell him what had happened and what did the Government try to do? It tried to manage the situation and pre-empt it with damage control by leaking the story to the media. Well has that not backfired hugely? We have only to look at the letters to the editor in the  
Dominion Post  
today to see how it has backfired for the Government—a Government that campaigned on ending the culture of extravagance. The same Prime Minister who said the public was revolted at Paul Holmes’ salary will now say that heads will roll at the board but it is a bit too late for that. 
What will happen when a vice-chancellor or the council of a university does something that gets up the nose of the Government of the day—any Government—under this legislation? Will the Government come out swinging have a little hissy fit and say that heads will roll at that university because it has not followed the responsible Minister’s interference and meddling in the statement of intent? What will happen if the Symphony Orchestra—which as I said yesterday is under the Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage Judith Tizard—plays the music of what she calls “dead white men”. Beethoven and Bach she said have had their day and should not be played. 
Hon Member 
: Extraordinary! 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON 
: Absolutely. 
Hon Member 
: Who said that? 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON 
: The Minister with responsibility for Auckland Issues and Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage. 
Craig McNair 
: She didn’t! 
DEBORAH CODDINGTON 
: She did. The member should go back through  
Hansard 
. The point is that the Government should not have the power to meddle in day-to-day affairs. 
Of course it suits the Government very well not to provide information about what goes on when it does not want to. If for instance one submits a written parliamentary question about the policy of TVNZ in checking the background of senior employees in charge of hundreds of millions of dollars the Government does not want to know.