Hide Rodney: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Hide Rodney: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:625;Page:20538] 
9.  
RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Education 
: Does he stand by his reported comments that: “Cyber bullying was nasty and had to stop” and is his policy one of zero tolerance to bullying in schools? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Associate Minister of Education) 
: 
 Yes I stand by those comments and I am sure that all members of the House would agree that bullying in schools is a problem that has no place in our educational institutions. 
Rodney Hide 
: Is it correct that the Minister used to cane students particularly hard while teaching at Bayfield High School and throw tennis balls at them in the classroom if they misbehaved; if so how can he have any credibility in speaking out against bullying? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: Yes I did use corporal punishment in line with the school policy of the time but like many of my colleagues I have come to believe that corporal punishment is a totally inappropriate form of discipline. 
Lynne Pillay 
: What programmes has the Government introduced to increase cyber-safety for students? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I was delighted on Monday this week to attend the first of a series of around 200 NetSafe workshops taking place in 19 centres around New Zealand. That meeting was in Palmerston North. That workshop was an extension of a successful pilot series of 30 workshops held last year. The Government has provided $300000 to enable these workshops to be delivered across the country. In addition to boards of trustees workshops will be delivered to other key school personnel school principals cyber-safety managers information and communications technology managers and library personnel. Members will be pleased to know that the NetSafe programme is world leading and that educational officials from the US state of Georgia will soon be visiting New Zealand with a view to establishing the programme there. The programme is also most significantly supported by Vodafone. I am further advised that it is the first mobile phone provider in the world to have joined in such a comprehensive programme to eliminate text bullying. 
Judith Collins 
: Did he ever tie boys’ hands together and jam a tennis ball into their mouths as punishment for talking when he was a teacher at Bayfield High School and if these allegations prove to be correct does he believe they compromise his ability to promote an anti-bullying campaign in schools or is that just corporal punishment? 
Jill Pettis 
: You sat on that for months. 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I find such allegations ridiculous and I refute them. 
Rodney Hide 
: Did he ever smack a pupil with the back of his hand sufficiently hard to make his nose bleed at a school camp in the Catlins; if so is that the reason along with throwing tennis balls at pupils in the classroom that he has the reputation of being a terrible bully and that in fact his students to this day still suffer from his treatment? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: That is a disgraceful allegation and I refute it completely. 
Judith Collins 
: When the chief Government whip called out “You sat on that for months.” does that mean that the Prime Minister is aware of the allegations swirling around this Minister? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: That is not a point of order. 
Judith Collins 
: It is a supplementary question. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Sorry. So the supplementary question is to— 
Judith Collins 
: Does that mean that he told the Prime Minister of these allegations? 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Madam SPEAKER 
: No. Would everyone sit down please. So we had a point of order that then turned into a supplementary question. Is that correct? 
Judith Collins 
: I did not call out “point of order”. It was a supplementary question. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I apologise.  
Hon Ken Shirley 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. The chief Government whip was heard to call out on several occasions: “You sat on that for a long time.” obviously referring to you as Speaker. You did not bring her to heel. We know that her colleagues refer to her as “Paint Stripper”; her voice is particularly penetrating and I do ask that she be asked to withdraw and apologise. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I thank the member for drawing that to my attention. Could we please now have the supplementary question. 
Judith Collins 
: When the chief Government whip called out before words to the effect that “You’ve sat on that for a long time.” does he believe that he has advised the Prime Minister of the allegations surrounding his conduct as a teacher at Bayfield High School? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I have no responsibility for what the senior Government whip says. As I said earlier I find the allegations made by the member opposite ridiculous and I refute them. 
Jill Pettis 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I just want to clarify to the person who has now taken my title away from me that she has completely misrepresented my interjection and I want to make that abundantly clear. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I am not sure that was a point of order either. I do not want to get into tit for tat points of order on this. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. The Minister was asked effectively whether the Prime Minister was aware of these allegations. Certainly the less-than-spontaneous response from the senior Government whip has indicated that. Although the Minister may want to refute those allegations and that is his prerogative it is of interest to the House to know whether the Prime Minister is aware of the allegations as far as he is aware. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: The Minister is not answerable for whether the Prime Minister is aware. In answering the question however he did address the point that was the substance of the question or was part of the question also as to refuting the allegations that were made. I think the answer did address the question. 
Rodney Hide 
: Will he resign as Minister if it transpires that indeed he did throw tennis balls at his students in the classroom and tie their hands up and stuff tennis balls in their mouths as punishment for talking? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: As I said I refute the allegations made about what is quite clearly illegal behaviour as such. If the member has any such information he should take that to the police. 
Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I note the Minister did not address my question. I specifically asked him given that he has denied the allegations several times whether he would resign if they turn out to be true. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: The Minister in answering the question did address it by refuting the fundamental premise of your question. So it was addressed. 
Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. When you interrupted— 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Is the member contesting my ruling? 
Rodney Hide 
: Not at all. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Is this a new point of order? 
Rodney Hide 
: Yes. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: What is it then? 
Rodney Hide 
: When you ruled on my point of order I think the Minister was getting up to answer the question properly and he sat back down. I wonder whether you could allow him to stand up and answer the question. 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I am quite happy to confirm and repeat my statement earlier that I have not been guilty of or involved in any inappropriate behaviour in my 24 years as a secondary school teacher. As well I am not aware of any complaint of any kind. 
Judith Collins 
: When he said: “Stuff like that can come back to haunt you.” was he speaking of himself or of his students at Bayfield High School? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I was referring to the article that was the subject of the  
Otago Daily Times 
 report about cyber-bullying 2 days ago.