www.mccully.co.nz 9 December 2005
A Weekly Report from the Keyboard of Murray McCully
MP for East Coast Bays
Winston Peters Hits Asia
Our new Minister of Foreign Affairs is off on his third overseas trip in as many weeks, this time to the East Asia
conference in Malaysia – an arduous amount of first class travel and banqueting for a man who so detests the baubles of
office. And according to the recent interview published in the South China Morning Post, our Minister must have made
quite an impact.
Mr Peters, according to the newspaper, pronounced himself "well equipped to handle foreign affairs," as a result of his
"education, political experience and contacts." Further, he had "traveled pretty extensively and I know a number of
people in the region personally."
Asked to name some of these people he knew personally our Minister named Lee Kuan Yew (who retired fifteen years ago)
and his successor, who according to the report, he could not name. Then there were "Filipinos I have met." Oh, and
Malaysian Leader Mahathir Mohamad (who retired 2 years ago) "and others in his Cabinet” (who, apparently, also do not
have names).
Further evidence of his diplomatic prowess was to be found in the fact that he had represented New Zealand at the
handing over of Hong Kong. Indeed, Mr Peters’ name was the very first signature to be found in the guest book of the
first chief executive of Hong Kong. A very important and powerful friend to have. And his name would be……..”His name
just temporarily escapes me” Mr Peters told the newspaper.
Yes, with international credentials and diplomatic skills like that, our new Minister will be knocking their socks off
all over Asia right now.
TVNZ to Face the Music
TVNZ chairman Craig Boyce sailed very close to the wind this week as he tried to bat away questions about board disunity
before Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Select Committee. Never a comfortable performer before a select committee,
Boyce attempted to paint a picture of a harmonious and professional board dealing with the crises of the past year (Judy
Bailey, Susan Wood etc). Neither of which descriptions is remotely correct. And next Wednesday Boyce will again have to
front the select committee where it is to be hoped he will be a little more forthcoming.
The truth of the matter is that the TVNZ board has been a very unhappy place indeed. Why would a Crown company board
need to go to the trouble of prohibiting directors from approaching shareholding Ministers behind the back of the chair
and other board members? Or outlaw directors from involving themselves in management issues with senior executives? The
answer, of course, is because there has been a serious breakdown in the governance processes. And despite Mr Boyce’s
less than frank answers to the select committee this week, that is precisely what has happened at TVNZ. Hence the
departing comments of CEO Ian Fraser.
Had such a state of affairs occurred at Transpower or Solid Energy that would be serious enough. But this is TVNZ we are
talking about. The state broadcaster and the most powerful media operation in the country. For which reason there are
special protections built into the legislation to keep Ministers, directors and executives from straying into each
other’s territory.
The Judy Bailey affair provided an initial glimpse of the governance problems, with one director leaking salary details
to the Minister and to the Ninth Floor, and the government spin doctors then leaking the story to the media (to be
accompanied by suitable lashings of Prime Ministerial fury). But a boardroom team-talk after that affair failed to solve
the problem. And earlier this year there was an even bigger bust-up (which seemed to have slipped Mr Boyce’s memory this
week).
So let’s hope Mr Boyce has his memory and all his other faculties in place when he fronts the select committee next
week. This is serious, serious stuff. Individuals need to be called to account. Heads should roll. And someone appointed
to the high public office occupied by Mr Boyce needs to do better at a formal enquiry of a Parliamentary Select
Committee than the attempted fudging of this week. So watch this space.
Bozoish Behaviour from Benson-Pope – A Brief to Deceive
Deliberately misleading Parliament, as David Benson-Pope has done, is a fairly unattractive characteristic. But leaving
his press secretary to take the rap for denying the selective leaking of the Police report to a Sunday paper is right
over the line.
Invited to take responsibility for the leaking in Parliament, Benson-Pope refused. He had merely authorised a briefing
to be given. He had given his press secretary “no instruction other than being completely honest with the media”, and
was therefore not responsible for his staffer untruthfully denying responsibility for the leak.
So let’s get this straight:
Benson-Pope was given the Police file under embargo, so that he could raise concerns about any of the material the
Police were about to release. He asked for a delay to the release so that he could consider the matter further. Then he:
- abused the courtesy of the Police in consulting him,
- deceived Police into delaying the release,
- deceived Police further by breaking the Police embargo and releasing material,
- deceived the media and the public as he selectively chose extracts in order to completely misrepresent the Police
report,
- made fools of the media who used the story.
To carry out the above dishonest, deceitful tasks, he utilised the services of his press secretary who, not surprisingly
felt he had to lie about his involvement when asked. Yet, having given his press secretary a comprehensive brief to
deceive, Benson-Pope maintains his staffer had no instructions to do anything other than behave honestly. There’s one
for the Tui billboards.
ENDS