Brown Peter: Urgent Debates — Environment Ministry—State Services Commission Briefing 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Brown Peter: Urgent Debates — Environment Ministry—State Services Commission Briefing 
[Sitting date: 24 July 2007. Volume:640;Page:10618. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 I will commence by telling the House that in any reference I make to Madeleine Setchell or her circumstances I do not wish to cast any aspersions on her ability competence or integrity. I do not know the lady and I have no doubt she is as top-notch as the National Party in particular asserts. I also do not want to cast any aspersions on the ability or integrity of Kevin Taylor her partner. Equally New Zealand First does not want to cast any aspersions on the Minister for what he said he did. We believe him. We believe that is a convention of this House and we will take his word as gospel I suppose.  
However having said that I say it is exceedingly important that the Public Service is neutral and is seen to be neutral. It is like justice: neutrality must be there and it must be seen to be there. I think the recommendations made by Iain Rennie to the Minister which the Minister relayed to the House seem to be a good starting point in terms of addressing this sort of circumstance.  
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Why did she lose her job? 
PETER BROWN 
: That question perhaps should be answered but I am not qualified to answer it. I will say that in my opinion a more appropriate question would be in the circumstances that she found herself in and the circumstances of her personal life: why was she given the job? I do not wish to cast any aspersions on the lady’s integrity but why was she given the job?  
Politics is a very competitive occupation—exceedingly so in this place. I have to say that in recent times the competitive environment in this House has deteriorated. At one time we had humorous differences but they have been replaced by humourless arrogance.  
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Where is the humour when a young woman loses her job? 
PETER BROWN 
: There is no humour when a young woman loses her job and there was no humour in the exchange that we saw only a few moments ago between the Hon Annette King and the Hon Bill English. I did not find that humorous at all. Whether or not we like it the competitive environment in this House has deteriorated to the extent that personal attacks and personal innuendo are almost a daily fact of life. I think that is sad. It is not what the public of New Zealand require from their MPs. They voted for MMP principally to see more cooperation. But what they are seeing now is more differences between MPs which escalate into personal attacks and petty arguments. By enlarging this debate and carrying it on I do not think we are doing terribly much good for Madeleine Setchell or Kevin Taylor or indeed for anybody else. We may be making life for them a good deal more difficult.  
Furthermore I want to remind members opposite because obviously they are taking a key interest in the employment of public servants that late last year or early this year it was painfully obvious that some emails had been leaked from the National Party into the hands of an author who then wrote a book. What did the National Party do with regard to that? I have every sympathy for National in that area. I have read the book and I know National disposed of its leader probably as a result of that book. But more important National had an internal inquiry and called in the police to investigate the people who were working for the party. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: No. 
PETER BROWN 
: Yes it did.  
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: No the documents were stolen. 
PETER BROWN 
: The point is that National had people in its camp that it could not trust. It did not know whom they were. There is no way I am suggesting that Madeleine Setchell could not be trusted but if there were a similar set of circumstances within the Labour Party’s ranks where would she be? She would be feeling distinctly uncomfortable.  
It is obligatory on MPs to ensure that the Public Service serves both sides of the House is totally neutral and is seen to be neutral. I feel sorry for Madeleine Setchell for being the centrepiece of this debate because I think that in the long run we are not doing her any good at all. The best thing we can do is to leave it to the arrangements that are being made to satisfy her so that she leaves the Labour Party with her integrity and competence unquestionably intact and is given a job where she will obviously apply her talents much more— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: She works for the Ministry for the Environment not the Labour Party. 
PETER BROWN 
: Never mind whether the Minister— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Are they all the same now? 
PETER BROWN 
: The Minister just happens to be from the Labour Party and the member who is making assertions if he were in Government would put a National Party spin on everything exactly as the Labour Party is doing. Labour has been voted into Government. It has the Ministers and— 
Hon Harry Duynhoven 
: Nick Smith banned me as a local MP from visiting the Department of Conservation when he was the Minister.  
PETER BROWN 
: Well there we are! I do not want to enlarge on this sort of thing. I just say that as parliamentarians we have to get our act together because it will not be us who will suffer; it will be the people who come to work conscientiously in order to serve the cause of democracy and efficiency.  
I do not think I can add any more to this debate other than simply to say that if the National Party continues to attack in this vein the skeletons will come back to haunt it. I would say that will do National no good will do Parliament no good and will do democracy little good.