Roger Sowry National Deputy Leader
18 October 2002
Government caught out on "insider" group
The Government's clearly been caught out over its cosy association with a so-called insider group set up to give members
the inside running on crown projects, says National deputy leader Roger Sowry.
"The Acting Prime Minister's hasty back-pedalling this afternoon to try and disassociate the Government from this group
headed by Dr Ross Armstrong does nothing to hide the fact that something murky has been going on.
"Dr Cullen still hasn't said which Ministers and officials attended yesterday's meeting with Dr Armstrong and Paul
Keating. We have a right to know who else was at the meeting, and in what capacity.
"National reiterates that we support public private partnerships, but they must be open and transparent. Dr Cullen would
have had a briefing note prepared for him by officials, so I question his claim that "no document had been written
within the government."
"We want full disclosure on what sort of deals are being done. If Dr Cullen has nothing to hide, he should release
minutes or notes of yesterday's meeting and tell us what follow-up was being discussed," says Mr Sowry.
Mr Sowry also said that the Government must consider whether Dr Armstrong should continue as chair of TVNZ in light of
Dr Cullen's statement that "Dr Armstrong's project was entirely at his own initiative and not, as he implied, at the
request of the Prime Minister or any other Minister".
Ends