Prosser Richard: Offices of Parliament — Address to Governor-GeneralText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeProsser Richard: Offices of Parliament — Address to Governor-General[Sitting date: 14 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:9845. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RICHARD PROSSER (NZ First):I am pleased to rise on behalf of New Zealand First and also on behalf of my colleague Barbara Stewart to take a very short call on this Government motion the 2012-13 alterations to appropriations for Officers of Parliament and the 2013-14 appropriations for Officers of Parliament. New Zealand First gives its full support to the appropriations for the Officers of Parliament. We acknowledge the importance of these roles and agencies the services they provide to Parliament and how crucial it is that they be resourced in order to fulfil their functions adequately. With regard to the Office of the Auditor-General this is a critical office of Parliament that we wholeheartedly support. We would like to highlight three of the Auditor-General’s recent reports to illustrate the important work that the office does.Firstly is the report entitled Ministry for Primary Industries: Preparing for and responding to biosecurity incursions. This report alerted the Government that the Ministry for Primary Industries was underprepared for future biosecurity incursions. The report showed that responding to incursions took precedence over preparing for the potential arrival of other pests and diseases. The report revealed that there is still a lot of work to do to ensure that New Zealand is protected from biosecurity incursions. With New Zealand’s biosecurity breach in recent years involving Psa bacteria clearly there are absolutely no grounds for complacency.The second report I wish to mention in this debate is the inquiry into the Government’s decision to negotiate with Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd for an international convention centre. This report found a range of significant deficiencies in the advice that officials provided to the Government in relation to the new Auckland convention centre. The report also found that the quality of support provided to the Government fell well short of what we expect from the lead Government agency on commercial and procurement matters.The Office of the Auditor-General also produced a very comprehensive report entitled the New Zealand Defence Force: The civilianisation project. The report revealed that overall the civilianisation project obtained only limited success. These are the types of reports that are essential to holding the Government and State sector agencies accountable to the New Zealand public.The Office of the Ombudsmen has done excellent work over the past year. As an example the Ombudsmen commenced an investigation into the school closure and merger process. The office is now asking anyone who has information relevant to the investigation to contact the office. When the Associate Minister of Education refused to release the advice relating to the development of the partnership schools policy the office gave its opinion and recommendations on this decision. The Chief Ombudsman also raised serious concerns that charter schools are to be excluded from the provisions of the Official Information Act.In regard to the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board the Office of the Ombudsmen also released its report on the investigation into complaints received about a disciplinary levy continuing professional development licensing conditions and the refusal of licensing for non-payment of fees. In the last year the Office of the Ombudsmen also reported on the Minister for Economic Development’s refusal for access to official information regarding the production of The Hobbit and film production generally in New Zealand.Lastly the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment produced a range of useful and timely reports that contribute valuable input to environmental information and debate in New Zealand notably evaluating the environmental impacts of fracking in New Zealand—an interim report. New Zealand First supports this appropriation. Thank you.