Shirley Ken: Public Finance (State Sector Management) Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Shirley Ken: Public Finance (State Sector Management) Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Sitting date: 14 December 2004. Volume:622;Page:17892. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY (ACT) 
: 
 I have been somewhat stunned by joining this debate and picking up on the points that have already been made. I am particularly alarmed by clause 71(2). I will carry on with the point made by the Hon Bill English who touched on the issue—I do not think he made the point firmly enough—that the president of the Labour Party Mike Williams is involved in eight State agencies. 
John Key 
: So far! 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY 
: So far. I understand they are: rail; historic places I think; health; Genesis Power as I recall; and geological and nuclear science—this is an extraordinary man! Who can honestly believe that that fulfils the criteria of clause 71(2)? That clause states that the Minister “(a) may only appoint or recommend a person who in the responsible Minister’s opinion has the appropriate knowledge skills and experience to assist the statutory entity to achieve its objective and perform its functions.” Is this man Mike Williams the president of the Labour Party an expert on rail? He may have had a train set as a boy but does that make him an expert on rail? What does he know about historic places? What does he know about health energy or geological surveys and nuclear science? The Labour members will be telling us he is a nuclear physicist next! 
This is extraordinary. What it stinks of—because there is a very very bad odour associated with this—is that the Labour Party wants its full-time president travelling the country selecting candidates and always having an excuse to be in Oamaru tonight or Te Awamutu next week because if one has eight State agencies one can virtually be anywhere anytime sucking into the public purse. That is what it is about. 
Rod Donald 
: Like Ross Armstrong. 
Hon KEN SHIRLEY 
: It does smell a bit like Ross Armstrong a great friend of the Prime Minister Helen Clark as the member from Christchurch Mr Donald will remember. That is what this smells of. 
I recall when we made the major State sector reforms in the late 1980s. In the honourable Labour Government that I was a proud member of we made a point of transparency. We made a point of not appointing party hacks; we appointed people on merit. I believe that the National Party in Government throughout the 1980s maintained to a lesser standard that same principle. But what we are seeing now is an overt appointment of party hacks and party cronies to high-paid public agencies. We hear in this debate—and I hope that people in New Zealand listening to this debate will appreciate this—that the president of the Labour Party has been appointed by this Labour Government to eight boards! He is chair of some but he does not have and no one can sensibly believe that he has the competence and the abilities that are outlined in clause 71. That is an outrage. 
The Minister sits there like a maturing cheese. He has not said boo all night. He will not get off his chuff. He will not get up on his hind trotters and explain this appalling legislation. I say to the Minister in the chair that he should wake up take a call and answer these serious questions that are being put to him tonight. It is an outrage; this Parliament is offended; the New Zealand public are offended. It is a gross gross arrogance and it is just an appalling situation. 
I ask the Minister in the chair Mr Mallard to please take a call. He needs to respond to these serious questions. How is it that the president of the Labour Party so far has had eight appointments to those high-paying public bodies? There have been eight appointments including some of chairman. He could not do justice to them all. I put it to the Minister that it is just a guise and way for this Labour Government to abuse its executive powers in order to pay its party hack its president to travel the country.