Robertson Grant: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRobertson Grant: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 29 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:10493. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]12.GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Leader—Labour) to theMinister of Justice: How many expressions of interest or nominations for the position of Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner were received by the Ministry of Justice after the advertised deadline of 13 October 2012?Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Justice): Well the member is wrong. There is no deadline. This is a ministerial appointment. The Ministry of Justice was assisting me not directing me. It is an administrative date for the Ministry of Justice only.Hon Trevor Mallard: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! A point of order has been raised and I wish to hear it in silence.Hon Trevor Mallard: Your office accepted the question with proper authentication showing that there was an advertised deadline. It was tabled in the House yesterday. The Minister should be asked to answer that question. There was an advertised deadline and for her to deny it is not appropriate.Mr SPEAKER: No on this occasion the member has addressed the question in a way that is not helpful to the House. I think it is pointless to ask for the question to be repeated because I suspect we will get the same answer but on this occasion I invite the member to have an additional three supplementary questions if he so requires.Grant Robertson: Did she receive the report from the Ministry of Justice dated 1 November 2012 that summarised the expressions of interest in the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner position and sought her views on a short list a paper that did not include Jackie Blue’s name among the applicants?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Well again the member is not quite right in that question because of course I had already received an expression of interest from Dr Jackie Blue and the ministry had not at that stage because I had not passed it on to the ministry.Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I do not think the Minister understood the question. I asked whether she had received a report—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I invite the member to ask the question again.Grant Robertson: Did she receive the report from the Ministry of Justice dated 1 November 2012 that summarised the expressions of interest for the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner position and sought her views on a short list a paper that did not include Jackie Blue among the applicants?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Of course the member—how can I try to answer this as best I can given that the question is clearly wrong? I got a—Hon Annette King: Yes or no?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Excuse me! Do you want the answer? [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! I am also trying to listen to the answer.Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Well Mr Shearer might say that—he is down there. Actually what I would say to that member is that there was a report from the ministry but it did not include the expression of interest that Dr Blue had already—Grant Robertson: Did you receive it?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I just said that there was a report. [Interruption] So is that your answer? OK.Grant Robertson: In light of that answer why did she answer to written question No. 4721 which asked her when she received a list of those who had expressed interest that she received that on 19 December 2012 and did not mention the report of 1 November 2012?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I have just explained in what I think was my second answer to the question that he has asked today that the expression of interest from Dr Jackie Blue was not included in the—whatever—early November report from the ministry and it was included in the one in December. I do not think it is that difficult is it?Grant Robertson: Why did the Minister not acknowledge the existence of the 1 November report in her answers to written questions?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Because the report did not include all expressions of interest received. For goodness’ sake!Scott Simpson: How is the appointment of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner made?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Finally a good question. The role—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I am very keen to hear the answer. It might help me in the future.Hon JUDITH COLLINS: The role of Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner is made under the Crown Entities Act 2004. All members of the Human Rights Commission are appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Minister of Justice. The Minister of Justice determines what process is followed in identifying suitable candidates and it is the Minister of Justice who determines which candidates are to be short-listed. The Minister of Justice is free to take whatever advice she wishes to ensure that the right recommendation is made to the Governor-General. However this Minister of Justice did not decide to put herself on any panel unlike the other side.Grant Robertson: Why did she withhold the name of the third person on the interview panel for the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner process? [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is so much noise that now the Minister cannot hear the question. Would the member please repeat the question?Grant Robertson: I am very pleased to. Why has she withheld the name of the third person on the interview panel for the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner position?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Because to reveal that person’s name would breach the privacy of a natural person.Grant Robertson: Why should members of the public have confidence in the process of the appointment of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner if the Minister will not reveal to the public who was on the interview panel?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I would expect that members of the public would expect that we comply with the Privacy Act. The other thing too is that I can assure that member that it was no member of the Public Service no member in the ministerial office and no Minister—unlike the party opposite which used to do it all the time.Grant Robertson: In light of that answer why does a note from Andrew Bridgman the Secretary for Justice say that the third person on the panel was the chief executive of a State-owned enterprise in contradiction to the answer the Minister has just given?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I think that member has mixed up his Official Information Acts.Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! It is a point of order. We will hear it in silence.Grant Robertson: I seek leave of the House to table an email from Andrew Bridgman the Secretary for Justice dated Tuesday 29 January 2013 where he says: “In particular I would be interested in your view”—he is writing to the State Services Commission—“as to whether the proposed interview panel comprised as it is of chief executives of two Government departments and an SOE is appropriate.”Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that. Is there any objection? There is none.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Grant Robertson: In light of her earlier answer how is it appropriate for her to answer in this House that the person whom she will not identify on the panel was not the chief executive of a State-owned enterprise?Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Well I would have thought the answer was pretty jolly obvious. There was going to be that particular person and then that was changed. I can tell the member that the person is not a chair of a State-owned enterprise has nothing to do with the Government and is in fact actually a prominent QC.