Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:678;Page:894] 
6. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Local Government 
: Has he been in communication with the Auckland Council over financial management issues and if so on what occasions this year? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister of Local Government) 
: 
 I have not had any communication with the Auckland Council on issues of financial management that the member has been raising in the House. I have met and had discussions with the Auckland Mayor Len Brown on a wide range of local government issues just like I have had meetings with dozens of mayors throughout the country on those issues. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Relating to his powers under section 254 of the Local Government Act 2002 and his meeting with the council officers last Friday afternoon is he in receipt of reports of Deloitte receiving significant consulting fees and major Auckland Council projects written in the 2012 draft long-term plan containing all major policy initiatives and spending priorities commissioned by the council’s chief financial officer Andrew McKenzie despite Mr McKenzie being the client for both the consultancy work and the audit by Deloitte of the council’s financial affairs? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: Yes I did meet with Mayor Len Brown last Friday. The bulk of the discussion was actually in my role as Minister for the Environment around the spatial plan. There was no discussion of the abstruse issues that the member has been raising. I have received no documents on those issues as the member claimed in the House. Again I simply invite the member if he has concerns about the financial issues with the council— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: You’re the Minister. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: I’m actually— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Do your job. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: It is ridiculous. On that basis— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The Speaker is not the Minister. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: On that basis you could have questions on every one of our 78 councils. The member makes reference to the section in the Local Government Act that has a very high threshold. In fact the major lectures I have had from members opposite have been about intervening too early in councils’ affairs and that is why I say the member should do the responsible thing and lay a complaint with the Auditor-General if he has got real concerns. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Related again to his powers under the 2002 Local Government Act has he received any reports that the largest projects for Auckland Council consultancy work involve information technology on which Deloitte is charging fees in excess of $3400 plus GST per day per senior consultant and that a further $20 million of Auckland information technology infrastructure which chief financial officer Andrew McKenzie is in charge of will be tabled before the council this week? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: No I do not have any more knowledge of that matter than of any of the other thousands of matters that are before New Zealand’s 78 councils. If the member has a concern he should take that up with the mayor and elected representatives of the Auckland Council or if he is dissatisfied with their response the proper channel to go to is the Auditor-General. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Relating to those same section 254 powers does he not understand the massive conflict of interest in being both a consultant on high consultancy fees and the auditor of those consultancy fees—where is the probity in that—and that being the case when he was there last Friday what did he do about the fairness and propriety aspects involving chief financial officer Andrew McKenzie and his— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! We are now departing from what the Minister can possibly be responsible for. The member asked the Minister whether he had received any reports on those matters. It is a perfectly legitimate supplementary question. The Minister has indicated he has not received any reports on those matters and therefore asking him why he did not interfere in the operational affairs of the Auckland Council is nothing to do with the Minister’s responsibility. He cannot interfere in that. I invite the member to rephrase his question. I do not want to deprive him of his question. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Does the Minister regard himself as having had no reports or information whatsoever on the impropriety of consultants being their own auditors which is surely outside the Local Government Act? 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH 
: The only information that I have had has been the accusations that have been made by the member in the House. I have repeatedly invited him to take those up directly with the Auckland Council or with the Auditor-General and it remains my opinion that that is the proper course of action. The only intervention powers I have as a Minister have a very high threshold and the only times that they have been used in financial affairs is where they have followed a negative report by the Auditor-General.