Faafoi KrisHon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Broadcasting Communications and Digital Media): Tēnā koe Madam Deputy Speaker. Before I address some of the substance of the bill I just want to spend a minimal amount of time responding to some of the claims made by the previous speaker the Hon Dr Nick Smith. It's very rich for that member to offer this side of the House lectures on ethics on things that may or may not be shambolic—DEPUTY SPEAKER: I just warn the member that all the members of this Parliament are honourable so be careful.Hon KRIS FAAFOI: Oh yes.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Just be careful.Hon KRIS FAAFOI: I'm not questioning the member's integrity at all Madam Deputy Speaker.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Oh that's good. Hon KRIS FAAFOI: Ha ha! But I do find that ever so slightly rich that that member can given their track record—and I'll come to the specifics about that—question our track record with the Public Service and our track record in terms of integrity. First of all to the claim that Mr Smith made towards the end of his speech around the current state of the Public Service compared with that under the previous administration: under the previous administration we saw the Public Service stripped to some degree and then—I think the word that the previous member used was bloated"—bloated by an extremely large expenditure on contractors in order to have the allure of trimming down the Public Service. But in the end the cost of running the Public Service had ballooned—or "bloated" in the previous speaker's language—to a point where it had got out of control. We are being much more transparent about that by making sure that we invest in our Public Service in a transparent way and not hiding the fact that we've got these people working behind the scenes as contractors. We're doing that in a transparent way as opposed to the way that the previous administration had done things. Also there was another pot kettle black moment for the member in and around giving us a lecture about integrity and I'm not going to go into that any further or I'll face the wrath of your ire Madam Deputy Speaker. But having said that I do think it's a little rich for that member to stand in this Parliament with a straight face—I think you've got to give some respect for that—but to try to give us a lecture on that.To the substance of this piece of legislation I want to say congratulations to the Hon Chris Hipkins for following through on a concern that I think the public has had for some time. I remember in a previous iteration when I was the Opposition spokesperson for State services a prominent radio broadcaster was interviewing me about a particular instance where a chief executive had had quite a sizable pay increase. I remember it very vividly because I was standing in a schoolyard at 3 o'clock and there was plenty of noise. I was trying to listen to what the questions were and he was giving me a hard time saying "What are you guys going to do about it if you get into Government?" Well this is exactly what we are doing about it. There needed to be a check and balance on the levels of pay of chief executives in the Public Service because there has been concern—and that interview was back in 2015—for some time. One of the key objectives of this Government is to make sure that we can look after low- and middle-income New Zealanders. The juxtaposition of New Zealanders at the lowest end of the salary and wage scale struggling to make ends meet with a Government that had little or no control on chief executive's pay wasn't a good look for the public and seriously something needed to be done. I think this piece of legislation puts in place the mechanisms where the Government and the State Services Commission have a lot more oversight and control over levels of salary for the chief executives of our public services.I want to congratulate Minister Hipkins for getting this piece of legislation through this House within 12 months of this coalition Government getting into office because I think it sends a very clear message that we will put our money where our mouth is when we say we're going to look after low- and middle-income New Zealanders. We do have some levers that we can control in terms of what chief executives are paid. They should be paid properly but not excessively. The Government today by passing this piece of legislation in its third reading—and I acknowledge the support that it has got around the House—is showing leadership that something has had to change for those who are at the lowest end of the scale in terms of their pay and those at the very highest. That is one of the fundamental objectives of this coalition Government and I want to congratulate Minister Hipkins and this Government in making sure that could be done within 12 months."