Robertson Grant: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Urgent Questions 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Robertson Grant: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Urgent Questions 
[Sitting date: 28 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:9068. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
12. 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Was Ian Fletcher the candidate or one of the candidates named in the report to him from the State Services Commissioner following the panel interviews for the position of Director of the GCSB; if not who suggested that Mr Fletcher be considered for the position of Director of the GCSB? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Leader of the House) 
 on behalf of the Prime Minister: Yes. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! This is a question on notice. There are two specific parts to the question. 
Grant Robertson 
: No because the second one is “if not”. If the answer is “Yes” then that’s fine. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Is the member happy with that answer? 
Grant Robertson 
: I am extremely happy. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Then we will proceed. 
Grant Robertson 
: Did the Prime Minister accept the first recommendation of the State Services Commissioner for the person to be appointed to the post of Director of the Government Communications Security Bureau following the process begun in May 2011? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: My understanding is yes. 
Grant Robertson 
: Did the Prime Minister either directly or indirectly intervene in the process for the selection of the Director of the Government Communications Security Bureau? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: The State Services Commissioner has the role of identifying persons who might be suitable for that role then conducting appropriate discussions with those people and finally making a recommendation to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister ultimately makes that appointment and of course there were discussions through that process. 
Louise Upston 
: Would the Prime Minister please outline for the House the background of Ian Fletcher? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Yes I would like to do that. Before being appointed as Director of the Government Communications Security Bureau on the recommendation of the State Services Commissioner Mr Fletcher was director-general of the Queensland Department of Employment Economic Development and Innovation. He performed that role under the state Labor Government at the time. Prior to that Mr Fletcher was comptroller-general and chief executive of the British Intellectual Property Office. Prior to that Mr Fletcher was managing director international for UK Trade and Investment a similar organisation to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. The facts are that Mr Fletcher had a strong background that spanned across a number of countries and he was appointed because he was the best candidate for the job. 
Grant Robertson 
: In the first report from the State Services Commissioner on the recommendation for who should be the Director of the Government Communications Security Bureau was Ian Fletcher in the top two candidates? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: My understanding is that there were no recommendations in the first report. 
Grant Robertson 
: In the first report were there two short-listed candidates recommended to the Prime Minister? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: My understanding is that in the first report there were no recommendations for appointment and there were therefore no one-to-four rankings supplied. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question was very straight: were there two short-listed candidates? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The question was related more to whether there was any favoured ranking for those and the Minister said that there was not. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: No it was a very straight question: were there two short-listed candidates? I could not tell from that answer whether there were or there were not. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Well no we are going to make progress. I am going to ask the member to ask the question again. I will listen very carefully to the answer and I will then make a decision whether I think the question has been adequately addressed. 
Grant Robertson 
: In the first report were there two short-listed candidates? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: It is my understanding that there was no short list in the first report.