Peters Winston: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumePeters Winston: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 25 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4787. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]6.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) to the Minister for Māori Development: Does he stand by all his statements?Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL (Minister for Māori Development): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Kia ora tātou. Āe in the context they were given.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Does his statement “I deny absolutely any involvement in the changing of Hansard” mean that it is a strange coincidence that the Hansard Office with precise audio and video records should change the exact same word in the exact same sentence as he did when he made a personal explanation to the House yesterday?Mr SPEAKER: The Hon Te Ururoa Flavell in as far as he has ministerial responsibility.Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: I stand by my statements and any issues in respect of Hansard should be referred to the Speaker.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. If he is going to put you into the debate that is where we were yesterday and with respect that is not an answer. I am asking him about his involvement not whether you were involved; we will get—Mr SPEAKER: Order! And the answer was given. He denies any involvement. So the answer has been given. Move forward with further supplementary questions.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Yes I will do that.Hon Paula Bennett: Hang your sign up and say no.Rt Hon Winston Peters: No no. He is smarter than you. He can answer better—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Can we just have the supplementary—Rt Hon Winston Peters: You are a bit thick actually.Hon Members: Oh!Rt Hon Winston Peters: Oh yes she is. Did he receive any advice or instruction from the Speaker before—Hon Maggie Barry: That member’s an expert in “thick”.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Oh we know who is the expert now—the “orange roughy”.Mr SPEAKER: Order! At this stage I am not going to rule the question out because I am quite keen for it to be answered but be very careful not to bring the Speaker into this debate. Let us have the question without the interjections coming from any side.Rt Hon Winston Peters: From whom did he receive advice or instruction before question time yesterday telling him to correct his statements in the House as stated by his Māori Party colleague Marama Fox when she said and I quote her: “He had to make the statement to correct the Hansard as per Speaker’s orders.”?Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: I have no responsibility for my colleague Marama Fox and that issue was dealt with yesterday by my statement to the House.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I asked from whom did he get any advice or instruction and he is not answering the question.Mr SPEAKER: No no. You then brought in a colleague and he referred to that part.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Point of order.Mr SPEAKER: Order! I just want to be clear because I do not want the member complaining about unfair treatment. I have dealt with the matter as to whether that question was answered. If the member has a fresh point of order I am only too happy to hear it but I am not prepared to relitigate the issue as to whether the last supplementary question has been addressed by the Minister.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: I think we have a fresh point of order.Rt Hon Winston Peters: We have a fresh point of order. I recited as evidence Marama Fox’s statement—nothing more than that.Mr SPEAKER: Order! I am going to have to ask the member to leave the Chamber. I just explained to him that I have ruled on that matter. Would the member please resume his seat. I have made a ruling. I said to the member I would not entertain under any circumstances further litigation and the member says “I am raising a fresh point of order.” I interpret that to be repeating and relitigating a decision I have made.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I haven’t got to it.Mr SPEAKER: Well that is the way I interpret it. If it is a fresh point of order and we are moving past the last supplementary question I am happy to hear it. But if when the member rises with a fresh point of order and I interpret it as simply another mechanism of relitigating what has already occurred then I will not hesitate to be asking the member to leave the Chamber for the balance of question time.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Point of order.Mr SPEAKER: A fresh point of order?Rt Hon Winston Peters: It is a fresh point of order. I quoted the statement and I seek leave now because it is in dispute to table it.Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought—can I just so I am clear before I decide to put the leave can I be clear as to what the leave is that the member is seeking. What does he want to table?Rt Hon Winston Peters: I seek leave to table the evidence of the statement that he had made—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I now need the source and the date.Rt Hon Winston Peters: It is a media—[Interruption] No no. It is a media report of the exact comment and I can go to my office and get it for you now if that is what you want.Mr SPEAKER: Order! I do not need it because as I have told the member on many occasions the tabling of documents is to assist with providing further information. If it is a media report and if members are interested they can go and source it for themselves. So I will not be putting the leave.Marama Fox: Does the Minister have an opinion of how much of his valuable time has been spent defending baseless allegations of the past 2 weeks?Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: That is a very good question. There is so much to do and there is so little time. I am anxious to get on with the huge amount of work that is ahead of us. It is sad that the Labour Party with other colleagues like the New Zealand First Party takes up too much time on baseless allegations that they have no proof of.Rt Hon Winston Peters: If neither he nor his office attempted to change the Hansard before question time yesterday why when asked—and here is the question: “Why did he change the Hansard before the statement yesterday?”—did his Māori Party colleague Marama Fox not deny the change but answered “He corrected what he meant to say.”?Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: In respect of the first part of the question that issue was dealt with yesterday. The record was corrected in the House by me.Rt Hon Winston Peters: What on earth did he mean when he said yesterday in this House that one of the things he did discuss with the chief executive of Māori Television was “100 million engagements per week”? What was that about?Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: As I pointed out in question time yesterday it comes straight from a draft statement of intent for the Māori Television Service for 2015-18 and I am happy to table that in a short space of time.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can he confirm that Mr Maxwell and he are close friends so close that when Mr Maxwell’s appointment as Chief Executive Officer of Māori Television was being questioned he was the only member of Parliament to put out a press release defending him and when Mr Maxwell was welcomed on to Te Puea Marae he was the one not the Minister in charge standing beside him at that day?Mr SPEAKER: In so far as there is ministerial responsibility the Hon Te Ururoa Flavell.Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: The good thing about me is I have got many friends. One of my friends once upon a time was that member whom I took on to Moerewa marae to represent the National Party once upon a time. That is the width and the breadth of the friendship that I have. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! The House particularly on my right-hand side will now settle.Hon Paula Bennett: He can’t remember.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Is it not a fact—where you are involved you are 100 percent right. Is it not a fact that one of the reasons he saw Mr Maxwell on 20 May was to discuss programme content and panel composition because he could not face a debate with me—[Interruption] That is right; wait for it—and that leaks from Māori Television will confirm that?Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: I again reiterate that I did not discuss any issues of the content of that programme with the chief executive. That is fact and I put it on record in Parliament. The second part is that on the same day that the request was made my office agreed to be on the panel that was set out so I do not see what the problem is. Move on.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Why does he think he can make denials that are demonstrably untrue such as no discussing of content when the chief executive officer has confirmed it and Māori Television is now leaking like a sieve?Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: If he has that information I am happy to respond to it but at the moment based on yesterday’s discussion we have confirmation that Māori Television gave a directive some 5 or 6 days after that panel—Ron Mark: And you changed it.Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: It changed it 5 or 6 days after the event. If there are things—talking about being demonstrably wrong and accusations if there is one person who is doing it it is that member right now.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I seek some guidance from you. If it is right for a member to get up on a question that has been approved by your office to say it was all answered yesterday then that surely cannot be allowed. We are entitled each day to answers to the questions put that day.Mr SPEAKER: Order! I am not sure exactly what the point of order is. The member has asked a very general question—[Interruption] Order! He has asked for some guidance. I am happy to give it to him. He has asked a very general question and then followed with a line of supplementary questions. My duty and responsibility here is to judge each one of those answers as to whether it has addressed the question. I am quite satisfied that in each case it did.Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: I seek leave of the House to table the draft statement of intent for the Māori Television Service for the years 2015-18.Mr SPEAKER: On the basis that it is a draft and therefore has not been published I will put the leave. Leave is sought to table a draft statement of corporate intent for Māori Television. Is there any objection? There is none. It can be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.