Mapp Wayne: General Debates 
Mapp Wayne: General Debates 
[Volume:619;Page:14822] 
Dr WAYNE MAPP (National—North Shore) 
: 
 One knows a Government is in trouble when its members spend all their time denigrating the Opposition. They have fear in their hearts and we are seeing it on their faces. The previous speaker Ms Dalziel once hailed as one of  
Time 
 magazine’s 100 future leaders now languishes in humiliation on the back benches. 
I ask the following questions of the Government: how much will Mr Tamihere cost the taxpayer; how much will Mr Mallard cost the taxpayer; how much will Ms Dyson cost the taxpayer; and why did Dr Buwalda not defend his employees against the politically motivated pressure of Ministers? Surely that is one of the things we expect of an independent civil service—that it should not kowtow to its political masters. This was a concerted political attack on a defenceless civil servant. There was a concerted campaign by senior Ministers who were all aiming at one individual. There is a word for that. It is “paranoia”. There is a smell of fear in the Government when all it can do is attack civil servants. I will tell members why there is paranoia. It is because Mr Tamihere fears for his seat. He knows that the Maori Party is organising. He knows that it has generated enthusiasm amongst his constituents. His response is intimidation and bully-boy and stand-over tactics. I tell Mr Tamihere that the New Zealand public has no tolerance for intimidation or stand-over tactics. Mr Tamihere will be punished by those constituents in 9 months’ time. 
What he did was constructive dismissal. Ms Dalziel who prides herself on being a labour lawyer does not seem to know that a resignation under pressure is constructive dismissal. That is precisely what the term means. What is more on 10 August in the  
New Zealand Herald 
 Ms Panaho stated that if the Labour Department “ ‘came back and offered me an opportunity to go back to the organisation … I may have to consider it’ ”. Why would she do that if she knew she had not been constructively dismissed? The reality is that she has limited choices. One choice is that she will have to be re-engaged or else the taxpayers—all of us—will be paying for the Government’s intimidation and stand-over tactics. 
I have just been appointed to the role of spokesperson for employment relations. I hardly expected that the very first issue would be the way in which Ministers have so grossly and gravely breached their own legislation. That party established the concept of “good faith” in the Employment Relations Act and strengthened the personal grievance provisions. Well I did not expect to find immediately on taking up my new role that Ministers would be in breach of their own legislation and would have caused the constructive dismissal of a loyal civil servant who was merely exercising her civil rights. How do we know that? Because that is what the Deputy Prime Minister said she was doing. He said she had freedom of speech. Surely that is proof of constructive dismissal. Mr Tamihere had to apologise. Mr Mallard withdrew his statement—he did not even apologise. All of that will lead to us taxpayers—all New Zealanders—paying money for their default. 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.