9. Dr KENNEDY GRAHAM (Green) to the Minister of Foreign Affairs: What is the total number and cost of uncontested contracts given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to external consultants in the last two financial years?

Hon TIM GROSER (Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs) on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs: In 2010-11 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade engaged 82 consultants or contractors through non-contested processes at a cost of $5.06 million. In the more recent fiscal year the numbers dropped to 49 consultants at a cost of $2.98 million.

Dr Kennedy Graham: Why did the ministry this year give a contract worth more than $300,000 for change management with no tender process, and the only reason given as justification is that the consultant, Harrington Allen and Associates, had previously worked for the ministry?

Hon TIM GROSER: The Minister has a very strong view based on Public Service policy that this is an operational matter for the chief executive.

Dr Kennedy Graham: In asking the Minister to extend his ministerial writ and comment on issues that naturally fall within his purview, perhaps he could answer why there was no tender process for this particular contract, given that the consultant’s original contract the previous year, also costing about $300,000, was awarded with no tender process, this time due to urgency?

Hon TIM GROSER: I can only repeat the underlying point. This is obviously a decision of the management. I am sure they had good reasons to consider the alternative, and made this decision in the best interests of the process.

Andrew Williams: Will the Minister agree to end the use of uncontested contracts given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to external consultants, on the grounds that they are inconsistent with open, transparent, and merit-based contracting in the public sector; if not, why not?

Hon TIM GROSER: The answer to that is no, because it would be extremely inefficient to do so, and it is a longstanding matter for the Public Service across many agencies to have uncontested contracts, particularly for contracts of $50,000 or less, although that is not a complete bar to considering proposals above that figure.

Dr Kennedy Graham: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I put it to you that the issue of the integrity of tenders being put out is not an operational matter; it is a ministerial matter. The ministry applies the policy; the Minister is there to judge and set the policy.

Mr SPEAKER: The member is quite correct, as I understand the situation, and that is why the last question that asked about policy was answered quite firmly by the Minister. Previous supplementary questions that have asked about detailed particular contracts, the Minister has deferred to the ministry because they are management matters, just as the member himself has described.

Dr Kennedy Graham: Asking a broader matter of policy of the Minister, what is the threshold for tenders for legal advice at the ministry, given that Bell Gully received $121,000 in 2011 for work relating to aid contracts, and no other tenders were called, the price being deemed to be below the threshold?

Hon TIM GROSER: I do not have that information available to me as to what the policy structures are for that matter.

Dr Kennedy Graham: Has the Minister’s recent cutback meant that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade no longer has officials able to provide advice on diplomatic matters, given it is paying external contractors hundreds of thousands of dollars for advice on diplomacy?

Hon TIM GROSER: I think that is a somewhat broader question, and I think I can assure the member that the type of independent consultant whom I am aware of—most of whom I have known personally over many years—are people of great international standing, of unrivalled expertise, and of very high integrity. I do not think the member needs to be concerned.

Hon Phil Goff: Why was the Minister not aware that deliberately leaving policy positions unfilled and then cutting foreign policy positions by more than 30 would prove to be false economy, leading, since he became Minister, to a doubling of public expenditure on external consultants to $8.4 million a year?

Hon TIM GROSER: I think there are two qualifications I would put to the member’s question. The first is a relatively minor matter, and the second is more profound. The minor matter is, of course, that he is not comparing apples with apples, because the previous Government’s use of consultants excluded Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade consultants used in our aid programmes, which are a very considerable part of the package. The more important point, of course, is that this is like listening to one hand clapping. The basic point of this whole process, at least in part, was to get Public Service efficiencies, and we expect savings of $24 million, or some three times the amount of money we are arguing here. [Interruption]

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I must hear Dr Kennedy Graham.

Dr Kennedy Graham: I seek leave to table three documents. The first pertains to the four guiding principles for recruitment by the Ministry of Social Development, including selection on merit, and open, honest, and transparent processes, so that those with unrivalled talent can compete with others.

Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is no objection.

• Document, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.

Dr Kennedy Graham: I seek leave to table section 77H of the State Sector Act, which—

Mr SPEAKER: Order! We do not table bits of legislation.

Dr Kennedy Graham: I seek leave to table the recruitment process of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which advertises for “Experienced foreign policy staff wanting to return to the Ministry”.

Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is no objection.

• Document, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.