Heatley Phil: General Debate 
Heatley Phil: General Debate 
[Volume:630;Page:2700] 
PHIL HEATLEY (National—Whangarei) 
: 
 I think all in this Parliament would agree—certainly the public would agree—that Housing New Zealand Corporation is in an absolute shambles. I have to say that today the Minister looked very very grim when answering questions about the corporation. Yesterday he looked very very grim when defending his chairman of the board and today he looked very very grim when defending him again. I recall quite keenly yesterday the Minister saying that the chairman had acted appropriately and promptly in dealing with the allegations levelled against the corporation about the misappropriation of funds and with the allegations that the corporation had put a gagging order on a New Zealand citizen who was not allowed to talk to his or her member of Parliament. Housing New Zealand Corporation said that a New Zealand citizen could not approach and talk to his or her member of Parliament! Could our democracy be undermined by anything worse than a State entity run by this Labour Government putting gagging orders on fellow Kiwis so that they could not talk to their elected representative? That is a most appalling situation indeed—and we have seen the paperwork. 
When did the chairman know about the gagging order? That is the big question in the House this week. Today in the House Chris Carter would have us believe that the chairman found out at exactly the same time that he did—that is when it all blew up in the media in the  
Herald on Sunday 
 story 
. 
 But in trawling through the documents—and we have done that—and the media reports we have discovered that the chairman of the corporation’s board said that he found out about the gagging order several weeks before the Minister did when he was listening to talkback radio on Newstalk ZB. Now did he go and tell the Minister? No he did not. Did he stick to the no-surprises policy that the Prime Minister demands? No he did not. Did he keep the Minister abreast of the situation? Clearly he did not. So on the one hand here we have the Minister Chris Carter defending in the House the chairman of the corporation’s board and saying that he heard about it at the same time as he did. On the other hand the Prime Minister is saying that it was inappropriate for the chairman to break the no-surprises policy. Who is right: the Minister who says that the chairman found out about the gagging order at the same time as he did or the Prime Minister who said that the chairman broke the no-surprises policy? Well that question is up in the air and this House needs to find the answer very shortly. 
Another question we will be putting to the House is simply to ask why the chairman of the board of Housing New Zealand Corporation did not have an external inquiry into the misappropriation of funds when he found out last September. Why did it take media pressure before he called for an inquiry? Why when he called for an inquiry did he call in the internal auditors—Housing New Zealand Corporation’s usual internal auditors—but when he talked to the Minister discover the sense in actually having an external independent inquiry by the Auditor-General? Clearly this chairman is not overseeing the function of the corporation appropriately. We have seen that he is prepared to stand down a senior manager of Housing New Zealand Corporation based on the gagging order letter but that he will not oversee the standing down of the chief executive officer who is also implicated in that gagging letter. This Minister needs to be taken to account for his management of his politically appointed chairman.