Carter David: Public Finance (State Sector Management) Bill — In Committee 
Carter David: Public Finance (State Sector Management) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:622;Page:17903] 
Hon DAVID CARTER (National) 
: 
 I also want to talk about clause 157 in the Public Finance (State Sector Management) Bill. I am astounded to come into the Chamber today to find that a clause such as this is even in legislation: a Crown entity is to be a good employer. That sort of legislation would not have been required until this Labour Government came to power. I want the Committee to remember the treatment that Helen Clark gave to one State employee Kit Richards. Kit Richards was a valuable member of Timberlands but because he disagreed with the Prime Minister she drove him out of his job. She hounded that man. Now that incident has been quietly forgotten and into the legislation we are putting this sort of politically correct clause requiring a Crown entity to be a good employer. I just hope Helen Clark herself takes note of this clause. In future when another person like Kit Richards has the audacity to disagree with the Prime Minister we will see what sort of treatment he or she gets. 
It reminds me of the debate that is going on in the newspapers now about one Judy Bailey; it is on the front page of the  
Dominion Post  
for the second day in a row. Here is a person who is negotiating with her employers and now Helen Clark has decided that that salary is something that she has the right to set as well. 
If I refer back to clause 157 I want particularly to look at subclause (2). The subclause states that for the purposes of this section a good employer is one who “operates a personnel policy” moving down to paragraph (d) that requires: “recognition of—(i) the aims and aspirations of Maori; and (ii) the employment requirements of Maori; and (iii) the need for involvement of Maori as employees of the entity;”. Are not Mr Mallard and the Prime Minister on record as saying they have engaged in a process to get rid of race-based legislation and to base Government policy on need? That is what they say they will do yet today what we see in the detail of this bill is absolutely the opposite. I do not recall any legislation that is as specifically race-based as clause 157(2) which states categorically that for a Crown entity to be a good employer it must develop a policy recognising the aims and the aspirations of Maori. 
How can that not be race-based legislation? I want the next Labour speaker to deny that that is the case. No Labour member will be able to do that. The Prime Minister is so busy spinning the message about the need for equal citizenship yet her Government is quietly back in Parliament and under urgency forcing through a huge bill that specifically requires a Crown entity to establish race-based employment policy. 
I say to Phillip Field that that is absolutely wrong. That is wrong on two counts. First it is condescending to and demeaning of Maori. Why do they need a clause such as this? They can get on in this world like the rest of us. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: Labour thinks Maori are inferior. 
Hon DAVID CARTER 
: Labour feels that they are inferior so it punches through legislation such as this that just demeans Maori. I ask Phillip Field who is going to take the next call and make an attempt to answer this to explain to the Committee today why we have to put this sort of wording into legislation. The answer is we do not have to. The answer is we should not have to.