Brash Don: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Brash Don: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:626;Page:21040] 
1. Dr DON BRASH (Leader of the Opposition) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does she have confidence in the Minister of Finance? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Yes because I know he will always put health education families and superannuitants first—unlike the Leader of the Opposition. 
Dr Don Brash 
: Can she confirm that in 1999 she promised that only the top 5 percent of taxpayers would pay a top rate of 39c in the dollar and that as a result of Dr Cullen’s Budget many hard-working teachers and police officers are now part of the 20 percent of full-time workers who pay the top tax rate because they are part of Labour’s new rich to whom the Government has denied any prospect of tax relief? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I clearly recall the pledge that at the time the extra 6c was put on it would apply only to people over a certain income. At that time it was 5 percent. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: How can the Prime Minister have confidence in a Minister of Finance who allows a board to take a State-owned people-owned taxpayer-owned asset and flog it off via the Cayman Islands and when will that Minister be required to sack the board as any responsible Minister would do in those circumstances? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: The assertion in the member’s question is quite wrong. Nothing has been flogged off and I note that two such arrangements were entered into in 1996 and Mr Peters as incoming Treasurer did nothing to review it. 
Dr Don Brash 
: Was the fact that Dr Cullen’s Budget provided for many taxpayers to receive a 67c per week tax break in 3 years’ time the “deep dark secret” that the Labour Party president Mike Williams told the  
New Zealand Herald  
about or was the fact that 20 percent of full-time workers including many teachers and police officers are now in the top tax bracket her Government’s “deep dark secret”? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: What is clearly still a secret to the Leader of the Opposition is that under Working for Families families on $25000 to $45000 a year will get another $95 to $100 a week in family support. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Is the Prime Minister suggesting that an incoming Minister of Finance should break a contract entered into by a prior Government; if so what did she do about the Overseas Investment Amendment Act which she quite—according to the decision in England—illegally failed to present to the Governor-General for that person’s assent? Is that not the case under her administration? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: My understanding is that it was this Government that brought that into effect not the member who wanted it passed. 
Dr Don Brash 
: Does the Prime Minister agree with the comments made by the Minister of Finance regarding comments made by Mike Williams the Labour Party president about a deep dark secret in the Budget that: “I think that what happened was that certain print journalists interviewed their own typewriters …”; if so how does she reconcile this statement with a tape of the interview showing that Mr Williams clearly stated unprompted: “There is some deep dark secret in the Budget.”? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: The party president did say that. He also prefaced the comment by saying—and said after having made it—that he did not have a clue what was in the Budget and that was absolutely right. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Which two deals signed by National in 1996 could I possibly have been responsible for? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I have seen no evidence that the incoming Treasurer after 9 weeks of negotiation ever saw fit to review that practice by State-owned enterprises. 
Rodney Hide 
: In light of the Prime Minister’s confidence in the Minister of Finance will she ask him to explain to this House and to the public of New Zealand exactly what deal he signed off with Transpower through the Cayman Islands; if she will not do that why not? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: The Minister issued a statement on 15 April when there was first coverage of this matter pointing out not only that the previous National Government had approved a similar arrangement but also that he had had to be confident that what was being proposed was legal in all jurisdictions at that time and that he had received that assurance. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Why is the Prime Minister seeking to mislead the public of this country by referring to important legislation to do with foreign ownership when she had the chance to ensure that it went to the Governor-General but for 2 years made sure that it did not; would she please explain that and stop giggling? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: One can only laugh at some of these allegations. This Government not that member put that legislation to the Governor-General for signature.