Hayes John: Governor-General Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Hayes John: Governor-General Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:668;Page:14793] 
JOHN HAYES (National—Wairarapa) 
: 
 I would like to speak on Part 1 of the Governor-General Bill which is before the Committee this afternoon and draw particular attention to clause 3 which states that “the Bill binds the Crown.” When one reads through the bill at various parts in clause 4 “Interpretation” in clause 5 “Salary of Governor-General” and in clause 6 “Allowance of Governor-General” one sees a very clear linkage between the role of the Prime Minister and the role of the Governor-General in setting terms and conditions. That is why I think this Committee should feel very concerned about the possibility of Mr Goff ever getting near the Prime Minister role. Mr Goff waited for 2 hours after the comments that the previous speaker Phil Twyford referred to were made and then he said in the context of the Act binding the Crown and as is set out in Part 1 that it was Paul Henry being Paul Henry. He was not being asked— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: I have asked members to debate Part 1. We can use examples but this is not a general debate. I ask members to confine their remarks to Part 1 of the bill. 
JOHN HAYES 
: I thought that I was confining my comments to Part 1. It is important because clause 6 states: “The Governor-General must be paid an allowance at a rate fixed from time to time by Order in Council for official expenses.” That involves a very close relationship between the Prime Minister and the Governor-General. 
I think that our Governor-General is doing a really good job but at the moment the office of Governor-General is handicapped because many of the allowances paid to him are consumed in doing his job. Clause 6 is really important because we are going to split that arrangement out so that the Governor-General is paid a clearly defined amount to cover many of the costs of his office. 
I also think it is very important as one of the earlier speakers said to draw attention to the fact that although the Governor-General is getting an annuity for a period of 6 months under Part 1 once he has resigned the fact is that under the present arrangement no tax is paid by the Governor-General. The purpose of this part of the bill which was considered by the Government Administration Committee was simply to make an adjustment allowing for the fact that in future the Governor-General will have to pay tax on the amount of allowance that he receives as an annuity at the point of his departure from office. It is a bit rough and ready but it was a way of trying to accommodate the difference between a tax-free salary and a tax-paid salary. If a Government were ever to come into this Parliament and wanted to put up the top rate to 47.5 percent and impose that as a new upper tax rate that would roughly equate to 3 months of the Governor-General’s 6-month annuity. 
This is a very good adjustment to the Governor-General’s terms and conditions. With those words together with the fact that this legislation was unanimously agreed to by the select committee there is no real need for me to add further to the comments. I support the bill accordingly.