Horan Brendan: Intelligence and Security Committee — MembershipText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHoran Brendan: Intelligence and Security Committee — Membership[Sitting date: 13 June 2013. Volume:691;Page:11143. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]BRENDAN HORAN (Independent):We are having this debate because the Prime Minister sacked Peter Dunne from the Intelligence and Security Committee—not as he tried to spin it because some mysterious rules require it but simply because John Key wanted Peter Dunne “outski” from the committee. That is the sole reason.The Prime Minister can nominate any two MPs to the committee subject to the endorsement of Parliament and the motion “That under section 11 of the Intelligence and Security Committee Act 1966 this House endorse Tony Ryall as a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee nominated by the Prime Minister under section 7(1)(c) of the Act.” So the question today is whether we should endorse Tony Ryall. I will come to that in a minute and having done so I will then be moving an amendment to the motion.I note that other speakers have raised the very real issues around oversight of the Government Communications Security Bureau and the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service which is their full titles. The short version would be the spooks. Spooks by nature operate in the shadows furtively and secretly and I can see the Minister’s attributes in these areas echo appeal. After all who earned the dial “Secret Smile Tony Ryall”?But my concern is that the Minister is liable to capture by bureaucrats. Let us look at Tony Ryall. We have found in recent weeks and months that he is very vulnerable to capture by bureaucrats. He becomes the mouthpiece of those departments rather than the champion of hard-working Kiwis. Let us look at some specific examples such as diabetes. Already since I mentioned on Facebook that I would be speaking today I have had a number of people calling in and they are calling him “Denial Ryall”. The Minister of Health funds only the CareSens meters and many diabetics are finding serious problems with these meters. A 20 percent variation in test results for a child could mean death. The CareSens meters do not have a backlight. There are concerns about testing strips.I am concerned about the Minister’s intelligence because when asked a question yesterday about the number of people who had concerns he said there were 14. But just from the past 4 days right here in my hand are thousands of comments from people concerned abut the CareSens meters for diabetes. There are heartbreaking stories here. There is intelligence here of a mother with a young child who while she was driving him to hospital had to pull over to the side of the road and give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. There is a story here of an elderly gentleman whose wife was having a hyperglycaemic event and the worry and concern of that elderly gentleman. There is a lot of intelligence in here but it seems to have escaped the Minister who has adopted a “hear no evil see no evil” approach. So is that Minister appropriate for this committee? This Minister does not seem to want to know about intelligence but here is just a simple week’s worth.I am hoping that Pharmac has intelligence and I trust that it will because I know that there are people leading Pharmac who care. I know that they will stop some of the inane answers that people have received when they have written to Pharmac on its diabetes feedback line. When people have said they are concerned that their machine is not working the feedback they have received or the lack of intelligence has been: “Oh put the meter under your armpit and warm it up.” Where is the intelligence in that? We are moving into winter. At the end of this month it is going to be severely cold. What about all the diabetics? How are they going to test their blood sugar levels this winter? There should be real concern here because there is real intelligence about this. I would askthat Pharmac cast its people to it immediately and come up with a solution. I do have confidence that the leaders of Pharmac will do that because where there has been need in other areas they have acted appropriately.Therefore we come to our Minister who is I guess a ghost Minister so again I can see how the title fits and how he might be able to get on to that Intelligence and Security Committee. He is a ghost Minister indeed. I refer also to an example of him being a ghost Minister. A Tauranga mother with a very ill child went to see Mr Ryall as Minister of Health. Mr Ryall said: “Well I’m actually seeing you today as your electorate MP and I’m going to have to write a letter to myself as Minister of Health.” So we do have a ghost Minister there. Again he does have certain attributes in that area.That small girl was denied money for a lifesaving operation because she had to go overseas to get it. Where was his intelligence then? Where was the security or the thought for that small girl? His intelligence told him that the girl could not be cured so he did not fund the trip. But guess what? The solo mother went to the community raised the money and sent that little girl to the States and now she is alive and well and going to St Thomas More Catholic School—no thanks to the intelligence or the security of “Denial Ryall”.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): Order! Can I just say to the member that name-calling by and large comes from frustration and that is understood. But it is out of order as a personal reflection. I refer the member to Standing Order 117 and also to Speakers’ ruling 28/1 because it can lead to disorder. I also remind the member that no good comes from personalised attacks as they bring Parliament into disrepute. I urge members to play the ball not the man.BRENDAN HORAN: Thank you. I will note that. I do not mind apologising and withdrawing that comment. I meant it as a friendly moniker. I found it on Facebook.But let us have a look at the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Amendment Bill (No 2) which was trumpeted as “paying family carers” when the reality was that it was paying less than the minimum wage to a bare handful of families. That means there must be real questions as to whether Tony Ryall is an appropriate person to be endorsed to be part of the democratic oversight of intelligence and security.Whilst we are thinking about security the Hon Tony Ryall is the electorate MP for the Bay of Plenty. That is right—Psa. Rife. It went through the area under his watch. Where was the security or the intelligence there? If it was not for Zespri one of our main export earners in this country would be down and out. Where was our ghost Minister then? Well he was—he was a ghost Minister hands-off.Let us take a look at theRena . Yes that is right. Where is the intelligence for theRena ? Where is the security? What happens if a ship wrecks on that very same reef tomorrow? Well guess what? There is not much room for it because there is still a wreck on the rocks just about 2 years after the incident although that Government over there promised it would remove theRena from Tauranga. Guess what? There is still pollution leaking from that but we do not know about that because we cannot get out there and go under dive under Astrolabe Reef—which should be every New Zealander’s right—because there is still this aura of secrecy. So again there are certain attributes that the Minister exhibits that are fine there.There is also Solid Energy which he is responsible for as the Minister for State Owned Enterprises. It is a total basket case but the Minister is still digging.I conclude when asking whether Tony Ryall is an appropriate person to be on the committee that the answer is no. And so I moveThat all the words after “That” be replaced by “this House invites the Prime Minister to submit a fresh nomination to the Intelligence and Security Committee”. I urge the House to adopt this amendment.