Dunne Peter: Appointments — Controller and Auditor-General 
Dunne Peter: Appointments — Controller and Auditor-General 
[Volume:656;Page:5765] 
Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) 
: 
 I am pleased to speak on the appointment of Lyn Provost as the new Controller and Auditor-General. Along with Mr Foss Mr Robertson and the Hon Sir Roger Douglas I was part of the Officers of Parliament Committee that conducted the interviews for the position. I must say in mild contradiction to Steve Chadwick who said she believed Ms Provost could not have imagined ever becoming the Auditor-General that one of the things Ms Provost said during the course of her interview—and I am sure I am not breaching confidence—was that very early in her career she set herself the goal of becoming New Zealand’s first woman Auditor-General. I am delighted that by confirming her in the role today we have achieved that goal for her. 
I have no doubt Lyn Provost will be an outstanding Auditor-General. She comes with a great background. She took on the role of Deputy Commissioner of Police as a civilian at a time when the police were under considerable stress and strain. She then brought together the new Policing Act that Parliament passed during the term of the previous Government and she oversaw the whole change in police culture that arose as a result of certain matters arising from the Bazley report. That was no mean feat. On that basis alone I think she is more than suitably qualified to take on the new and challenging role of Auditor-General. 
She comes to the role at time when there is a need for fresh leadership within the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General. I have been concerned over the last couple of years at what I regard as an increasingly scattergun approach by the Audit Office to some of the functions it carries out. We have seen a number of reviews undertaken on a range of issues from defence procurement to medicine procurement to other specialist areas of Government activity where in my view the office has gone well beyond its brief of being a financial reporter. It has started to report on the way in which those practices are carried out often with very limited consultation with the organisations concerned. For instance in the area of local government there has been a longstanding technical debate about the treatment of depreciation. The office has declined to become involved in that issue yet it affects a whole range of local government operations across New Zealand. Therefore one of the things I think the new Auditor-General has to focus on is getting back to the core business of making sure that the office conducts good value-for-money audits and that it does a financial auditing role in the proper sense. I have some sympathy with the view that Dr Norman expressed about International Financial Reporting Standards and ensuring that we develop standards that are understandable and compatible with business practice in New Zealand. 
All of those are challenges for the new Auditor-General. In Lyn Provost we have an outstanding new appointee and I wish her well in the role. I look forward to her leadership and along with other members of this Parliament I look forward to engaging with her in her new role. I offer my congratulations and best wishes to her as she takes up this appointment.