Phil Heatley MP National Party Housing Spokesman
22 June 2006
HNZ resists transparency
National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley is disappointed with an 'ill-advised' outburst by Housing New Zealand
Chairman Pat Snedden at the Social Services Select Committee.
"Mr Snedden appears to believe that investigating legitimate questions by an MP and the committee is a waste of time.
"He appears to have forgotten that it's actually his job as chairman to answer questions from MPs who are interested in
protecting the taxpayer's $11 billion state housing investment.
"If Mr Snedden feels that answering questions is a waste of time, perhaps he should rethink his position as chair."
Mr Heatley says he has encountered a culture of resistance at HNZ when it comes to answering questions about its
operations and the management of its housing stock.
"The Minister has turned away countless requests for information. He simply refuses to ask HNZ staff to pull the
information together, even though in many cases, HNZ has the information on file.
"This is not the new transparency and accountability that Labour once promised."
Mr Heatley fears that Chris Carter doesn't ask because he doesn't want to know.
"If HNZ had been providing reliable answers to questions on state house tenant incomes, boarder numbers and vandalism,
and if the Minister hadn't been forced to correct answers in Parliament on 'what' the chairman knew 'when' over the
gagging clause, I would not be so suspicious.
"But too many mistakes are being made. Mr Snedden and the Minister need to be accountable," says Mr Heatley.
ENDS