Hodgson Pete: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Hodgson Pete: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:663;Page:10885] 
10. 
Hon PETE HODGSON (Labour—Dunedin North) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: During Cabinet or Cabinet committee consideration of the policy and legislation concerning Environment Canterbury did his Minister for the Environment declare any conflict of interest regarding his family; if so what did he declare? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Deputy Prime Minister) 
 on behalf of the  
Prime Minister 
: The Prime Minister is satisfied that Ministers are aware of the guidance in the  
Cabinet Manual  
about conflicts of interest and he would expect them to declare an interest in an issue where a conflict actually exists. No Ministers declared a conflict during Cabinet or Cabinet committee consideration of the legislation concerning Environment Canterbury. 
Hon Pete Hodgson 
: Why did he allow Dr Smith to stay in the room when the Government’s approach to Environment Canterbury was being discussed given that his brother was charged by Environment Canterbury on 21 counts arising from a police-accompanied inspection of his premises last June? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: As I understand it the facts of the matter are that the Government was making decisions around the performance of Environment Canterbury relating to governance performance and water management and nothing to do with the conduct of the council’s day-to-day regulatory and enforcement responsibilities so there was no possibility that Dr Smith or his brother could derive any kind of personal interest from decisions or actions taken by the Government. 
Hon Pete Hodgson 
: Can he confirm for the House that he the Prime Minister diligently upholds paragraph 2.60 of the  
Cabinet Manual 
 for all Ministers—himself included—where it states: “A conflict of interest may be … non-pecuniary (concerning for example a member of the Minister’s family).”? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Absolutely yes. 
Hon Pete Hodgson 
: Does the Prime Minister believe that he takes the same degree of care over conflict of interest issues as did earlier National Prime Ministers such as Prime Minister Bolger or Prime Minister Shipley? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Prime Minister ensures that Ministers are familiar with the  
Cabinet Manual 
. As the member will know from his own experience as a Minister declarations of conflict are a matter for Ministers to raise. These matters are regularly raised with the Cabinet Office often because Ministers think there could be a conflict. Sometimes they are advised there is not; sometimes they are advised there is. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That was a relatively simple question which related to the comparison of the practice of previous National Prime Ministers and whether “the same degree of care” I think were the words used was taken by this Prime Minister. That was the core of the question and was not addressed. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think any reasonable person listening would allow that the Minister answered in a way that made sense to him as a Minister. Maybe the Minister had not made such direct comparisons so the Minister responded in a way that said how this Prime Minister sees the  
Cabinet Manual 
 and the requirements of it which seemed to me to be a reasonable answer to the question. 
Hon Pete Hodgson 
: Why as reported in a 2001 edition of  
North and South 
 is Dr Smith on record as saying that he had to step aside if a project in his area of responsibility involved one of his brothers—citing back then the Otira viaduct as an example—but in this Government the same Minister’s rather obvious conflicts of interests go unaddressed? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The way Dr Smith has handled conflicts over a number of years has been very thorough because he has a number of siblings involved in projects on which Government policy may have some impact. In this case—where the member is trying to smear the Minister and the Government’s process as he usually does—there was no impact of Government decisions on what was a regulatory process.