Peters Winston: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumePeters Winston: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 13 April 2016. Volume:713;Page:10460. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]5.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all his statements?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Yes.Rt Hon Winston Peters: How could someone from PricewaterhouseCoopers qualify to review our foreign trust disclosure laws when PricewaterhouseCoopers’ association with Tegel Foods saw that company generate revenue in New Zealand of $562 million yet pay only 0.38 percent tax in this country?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: PricewaterhouseCoopers will know more about tax than that member ever will.Rt Hon Winston Peters: How could someone—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I just want the member to have a fair go. There was too much interjection.Rt Hon Winston Peters: How could someone from PricewaterhouseCoopers qualify to review our foreign trust disclosure laws when PricewaterhouseCoopers’ association with Rio Tinto saw that company generate revenue in New Zealand of $76 million yet pay only 3.6 percent tax in this country?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: PricewaterhouseCoopers is recognised worldwide as one of the top five firms in the world and the managing partners of it I think are generally recognised for their expertise. Mr Shewan actually is an international expert. I think his capacity is beyond reproach and any feeble attempts by that member to denigrate his personality will be seen for what they are: bitter and twisted but not—Mr SPEAKER: Order! We are now moving a bit—[Interruption] Order!Rt Hon Winston Peters: What would qualify John Shewan to do the job that the public is requiring now—or to fit the Prime Minister’s description of being an expert—when he has been heavily criticised by the Supreme Court of New Zealand and the Court of Appeal of New Zealand and his views were dismissed by a court as high as the Privy Council in London?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Many people criticise that member and some people still listen to him.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This as you well know is not about me. It is about him—it is about him. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! I know it is not about the member but when I consider the tone of the question in the first place and the way it was levelled at a person who is not in the House to defend himself the answer given was not one that I would have given but on this occasion I am going to rule it as satisfactory.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I have made these remarks about Mr Shewan outside of the House. If he does not like them his recourse—Mr SPEAKER: Order! That is not a point of order.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Why does he not see how preposterous it is to put up someone who has very recently been advising the Bahamas Government on how to set up tax-free foreign trust structures?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The genesis of the reason why John Shewan and Don Brash were sent to the Bahamas is because the Bahamas Prime Minister asked me about the successful introduction of GST in this country going all the way back to the introduction under the Labour Government and because it was looking to implement a similar policy. I thought the expertise of two experts in this area—Don Brash who had done an enormous amount; and John Shewan—was a sensible thing to do for international diplomacy. I stand by that view. I am glad that I sent those two gentlemen and not others I could name.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Cards on the table—of the 70 leaders and heads of State mentioned in the Panama Papers is he one of them?Mr SPEAKER: I did not actually hear the question. Did the Prime Minister hear enough to answer it? [Interruption] Order! I did not hear it but if the Prime Minister heard it enough to answer then he can move to answer it.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I have already previously made it clear that I have no dealings with Panama.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I am having difficulty hearing the member particularly when there is continual chatter here.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question is not whether he had any dealings in Panama. It was: of the 70 heads of State and leaders mentioned in the Panama Papers which are to do with transactions all around the world—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The question was then answered by the Prime Minister—maybe not to your satisfaction but it was answered.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: If it is a fresh point of order I will hear it but if you are going to continue to raise points of order and disagree with decisions I am making I will be asking the member to leave the Chamber. [Interruption] Order! If the member now wants to speak to a former point of order to assist—[Interruption] OK. The Prime Minister is now saying that he did not hear the question. Nor did I because of the level of noise here. [Interruption] Order! The way forward is I am going to have the question asked again in absolute silence from everybody in the House and then the Prime Minister can answer it.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Of the 70 leaders and heads of State mentioned in the Panama Papers is he one of them?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No but I will not hold up a sign saying that—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! No. The question was answered immediately.Andrew Little: How can he manage his conflicts of interest including any conflict of interest over the appointment of a reviewer of New Zealand’s foreign trust laws if he cannot give New Zealanders a cast-iron assurance that he has not used companies or other vehicles—not foreign trusts—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Bring the question to a conclusion.Andrew Little: —to avoid tax?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I am quite confident that I have managed all of my conflicts of interest.