1. Question No. 1—FinanceHon PAULA BENNETT (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of FinanceORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Finance 1. Hon PAULA BENNETT (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister of Finance: Has he carried out appropriate oversight in all of his responsibilities as Minister of Finance?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Yes.Hon Paula Bennett: Was he aware that Shane Jones had declared a conflict of interest with respect to the Kupe project when he allowed Minister Jones to remain in a meeting that considered funding for that project?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: That information was provided to Ministers in the background documentation for that meeting.Hon Paula Bennett: If he knew that Shane Jones had a conflict of interest why did he allow the Minister to participate in the decision to fund the project?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I'm not sure it's a question of me allowing a Minister to do something. The Minister acted in accordance with advice that he was given around how to manage this particular conflict of interest.Hon Paula Bennett: Can he confirm that he did not originally support the approval of funding for the project?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: It's on the public record that I raised issues around governance and the commercial operations of the project. Subsequently when the project funding was finally released—which I believe was in August of last year—changes had been made to the governance arrangements. So the issues that I raised at that meeting were indeed rectified.Hon Paula Bennett: Can he confirm that Treasury did not support the funding of the project?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Treasury had concerns about the funding of the project and I would state that that is not unusual when it comes to Treasury about virtually any spending that the Government does.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can I ask the Minister: in terms of any financial pecuniary or personal advantage to be gained by Mr Jones exactly who has laid out what the conflict of interest being complained of is?SPEAKER: Order! The member will resume his seat. He's not responsible for that.Hon Paula Bennett: Did Shane Jones' comments about the governance structure of the project influence his decision to approve the funding of it?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I took that decision on my judgment. The role of the Far North District Council—or their holding company Far North Holdings Ltd—in the arrangements was important but what was more important was the change to the overall governance arrangements which as I say when the project was finally agreed to in August was completed.Hon Paula Bennett: Why did the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) official in the meeting state that Jones provided reassurances about the project and because of those references Minister Robertson was comfortable to sign the briefing"?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: You would need to address that question to the MBIE official but I presume it's because that's the MBIE official's recollection of events.Hon Paula Bennett: So in light of the fact that Treasury did not support the funding he did not originally support the funding and he held a meeting specifically to seek reassurances about the governance structure of the project isn't it evident that Shane Jones influenced the decision to fund the project despite declaring a conflict of interest?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I disagree with part of the premise of the member's question. The meeting was held as a regular meeting to assess a number of projects as we've already traversed in these questions today. The issues I had around the governance arrangements of the project were resolved. I want to repeat an earlier answer: there are different types of conflicts of interest. They can be managed in different ways. For example if someone or a member of their family were to be financially benefiting from an issue then that may well be something that would require a person to step away or outside of a meeting. Other types of conflicts of interest perhaps knowing somebody in the past who might have been involved in a trust can be managed in a different way. That is the situation that occurred here."