Guy Nathan: State Sector Management Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Guy Nathan: State Sector Management Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Sitting date: 09 December 2010. Volume:669;Page:16281. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon NATHAN GUY (Minister of Internal Affairs) 
: 
 It has been interesting to hear the debate this morning. I think it is worthy that I make a contribution at this stage. Importantly I have had 18 months in this role. There are real synergies between the three departments. We have heard a lot of political rhetoric and I want to address that this morning. There is a really strong focus with these three departments the Department of Internal Affairs the National Library and Archives New Zealand to get more information online and more accessible to every New Zealander. Just this week the Government announced all those communities that will benefit from the roll-out of the $1.5 billion ultra-fast broadband. That is really positive. 
I will focus on Part 2 of the bill which involves the National Library. It has a wealth of material online. The  
Appendices to the Journals 
 from Parliament are now online dating back to the 1860s. 
The changes to this bill are very minimal and technical. It preserves the cultural and institutional capability of both departments. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: It’s a major culture shift. 
Hon NATHAN GUY 
: It is interesting that the Hon Steve Chadwick interjects that it does not. I would like to ask Steve Chadwick why Labour in the 9 years it was in power did not address the terrible issues to do with the National Library’s leaking roof. It took this Government to come in and invest $52 million. In the first couple of weeks of becoming a Minister I went for a tour of the National Library and there was a hosepipe coming out of the roof and into a bucket. So here we have members of the previous Labour Government banging on during the Committee stage about the importance of these cultural institutions yet they did nothing in the 9 years they were awash with cash in terms of fixing up the library so that it had a decent roof on it so that important collections like the Alexander Turnbull Library collection would not rot. 
This Government has made a very valuable contribution over the road to the important rejuvenation project of the National Library. The other thing that is really important is that in this Budget we have been able to roll out $12.6 million into a digital archive—and that is new money and it is really really important. It has been very well received by the sector. 
The other thing worth noting is that Mr Robertson in his address said that the savings could be only about $165000 per year. In actual fact as I look at the out-years the information I have says that the savings will be up around $1.5 million per year. So once again I am not sure where Mr Robertson gets his comments from. 
The other point—and I have heard quite a bit of rhetoric about “third-tier”—that it is important to realise is that within the Department of Internal Affairs is an example of a third-tier manager who employs 205 people; it is the person in charge of the passport operation. That person employs 205 people and creates and generates third-party revenues of about $55 million. The performance of the New Zealand Passports Office and New Zealand’s visa-free status across 50 countries indicates a classic example of someone who is performing very well in a third-tier role and has the support of the New Zealand public. 
The other important point I make is that Mr Robertson said he was in favour of combining back-office functions and cost savings. That is very very important and I am pleased that Mr Robertson agrees with the thrust of this bill. He has publicly stated in the House today that he supports combining back-office functions and cost savings which is great. Mrs Chadwick talked about it becoming a superministry. When Mr Robertson was publicly saying in March that there was going to be a big combined department of information he was saying that it was way too radical. But now he is saying that we should not be touching it at all. So I think there is quite a bit of confusion on that side of the House. On the one hand they are saying that what Stevie Chadwick was proposing before would have been way too radical; and now on the other hand the opponents of the bill are saying that we should not be touching these important cultural institutions at all. So I look forward to hearing more debate on this bill. 
It is appropriate while I am on my feet to talk about the Crown Law opinion which was released following the waiving of legal privilege by the Attorney-General. I thank the Attorney-General for releasing it. Let us put the facts on the table. I am interested to hear our opponents negate this important Crown Law opinion. The Crown Law document states: “In our opinion the Bill: … Preserves the current statutory purposes of the National Library and Archives New Zealand; … Makes no change to the current level of statutory independence enjoyed by the National Librarian; … Increases the level of statutory independence enjoyed by the Chief Archivist;”. 
Moana Mackey 
: He has to table it now. 
Hon NATHAN GUY 
: It is publicly available. It goes on to state that “the Chief Archivist and the National Librarian are carrying out their roles and functions independently to the extent that those roles are legally required to be carried out independently. It would not be lawful for the Chief Executive of the Department of Internal Affairs to interfere with the Chief Archivist and the National Librarian’s performance of their statutory duties”. It states that the bill also “Preserves the role and function of the Alexander Turnbull Library as set out in the current legislation; and … Preserves the role and function of the statutory advisory groups prescribed by the National Library Act and the Public Records Act”. The National Library of New Zealand (Te PunaMatauranga o Aotearoa) Act 2003 and the Public Records Act 2005 which National supported carry on. “In short” this Crown Law opinion states “the changes to the National Library Act and the Public Records Act seem entirely limited to dealing with the fact that the National Library and Archives New Zealand would cease to be separate departments of the Crown and would become part of the Department of Internal Affairs.” That is a very powerful Crown Law opinion and I look forward to hearing members opposite trying to negate this.