10. Hon PHIL GOFF (Labour—Mt Roskill) to the Minister of Foreign Affairs: Is he aware of the requirement in the Cabinet Manual “to behave in a way that upholds and is seen to uphold the highest ethical standards” and have the appointments he has made as Minister met that requirement?

Hon MURRAY McCULLY (Minister of Foreign Affairs) : Yes.

Hon Phil Goff: When he appointed Peter Kiely as director of the Pacific Forum Line in July 2009, was he aware that Mr Kiely was, from November 2008, listed under the Companies Register as a shareholder in a competing shipping company, Sofrana, and that he held those shares right through until 10 August 2012?

Hon MURRAY McCULLY: If the member wants to ask a specific question about a specific appointment with that level of detail, he will have to put down a separate question.

Hon Trevor Mallard: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. It was a question of whether the Minister was aware; it was not about detail of the appointment. The Minister either was aware or was not.

Mr SPEAKER: I think the member raises a reasonable point. He did ask whether the Minister was aware. If the Minister could assist with an answer.

Hon MURRAY McCULLY: In answering a question with that degree of specificity I would want to check the information that was made available to me at the time, so that I could give the House an accurate answer, and if the member was to give me notice that that information was being sought, I would do so.

Mr SPEAKER: I think that is a fair answer.

Hon Phil Goff: Was it appropriate for Mr Kiely to have been a shareholder in Sofrana and not disclose that information to his Minister or to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, when Mr Kiely was involved in giving advice to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on the sale of the Pacific Forum Line and the preferred bidder was in fact the Sofrana shipping line?

Hon MURRAY McCULLY: The member should be careful, because I think he is getting into territory that calls into question the reputation of an upstanding individual who has rendered excellent service to Governments, I think from both sides of the House, in a variety of ways. I would want to check the information that the member has asserted across the House before giving a specific answer.

Hon Phil Goff: Do sections 139 and 140 of the Companies Act 1993 require that a director must disclose any such interest, and is that, likewise, a requirement under the Government’s Owner’s Expectations Manual for State-Owned Enterprises for its directors?

Mr SPEAKER: Before I call the Minister, the first part of that question did seek a legal opinion, because it asked whether it is correct that certain parts of an Act mean something, or require something—which is a legal opinion. I would invite the member to rephrase his question to avoid asking the Minister for a legal opinion.

Hon Phil Goff: Is the Minister aware that the Government’s Owner’s Expectations Manual for State-Owned Enterprises, which governs directors appointed by the Government, requires the disclosure of any interest and potential conflict of interest, and that that is, likewise, a requirement under the Institute of Directors’ code of ethics, and, likewise, a statutory requirement?

Hon MURRAY McCULLY: I can confirm that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in relation to any appointment of the sort would go through the normal procedures, which require certain certificates to be completed, and I am sure that it did so. But, by way of further elaboration, can I say that Mr Kiely was invited by me to join the board of the Pacific Forum Line because that line was in some significant difficulty, requiring some specialist skills and background knowledge in relation to that company. These circumstances arose because the previous Government had appointed to the board a Labour Party flunkey called Dave Morgan, who was partly responsible for that company losing $14 million in the space of 2 years, and I needed somebody to fix it.

Hon Phil Goff: Is his Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade correct in the answer that it has given to me that in the proposed sale of shares in the Pacific Forum Line and in the consideration of their disposal no director of the line disclosed any conflict of interest?

Hon MURRAY McCULLY: I cannot comment on a document that the member is quoting from without notice and the opportunity to check, because I would, obviously, want to give the House an accurate answer. But I do want to repeat that Mr Kiely has, in my long experience, always behaved as a person of absolute integrity and great professionalism. He was invited to do a very difficult job because the previous Government had made a highly political appointment of an inappropriate person.

Hon Phil Goff: Is Mr Kiely a personal friend of the Minister, and has been for 40 years; is he likewise an active member of the National Party, representing the National Party legally; and is he likewise a friend of, and a legal adviser to, the Prime Minister, Mr Key?

Hon MURRAY McCULLY: The member would need to ask the Prime Minister in relation to his own legal representation. What I can say to him is that Mr Kiely has not acted for me, but I have known him for a long period of time and I can vouch for his integrity. I also say that I have found him to be a person who renders the highest level of competent service to Governments from both sides of this House over a long period of time. If the member wants to besmirch people’s reputations, he should be extremely careful doing so inside the House.

Hon Phil Goff: I seek the leave of the House to table a number of documents. The first document is an extract from the Companies Register showing that Mr Kiely became a shareholder as of 3 November 2008 in Sofrana and did not relinquish those shares until 10 August 2012.

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.

Hon Phil Goff: I seek the leave of the House to table a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the effect that Mr Kiely gave advice to the Government on the sale of Pacific Forum Line shares, and, further, that no director of the line disclosed any conflict of interest in the proposed sale of the shares.

Mr SPEAKER: This is a Ministry of Foreign and Affairs and Trade document?

Hon Phil Goff: These are answers—I do not know yet whether tabled—for the financial review by the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee.

Mr SPEAKER: We have got to be a bit careful if they are not—

Hon Phil Goff: They are not public yet.

Mr SPEAKER: But—[Interruption] Order! These answers are the property of the committee. I would need to seek advice as to whether the House is at liberty to—[Interruption] The advice is, as one might have expected, that the House can, should it choose, give leave for confidential documents of the committee to be tabled. Leave is sought for that purpose. Is there any objection? There is objection.

Hon Phil Goff: I seek the leave of the House to table a reply to a request under the Official Information Act dated 19 November 2012, from Mr McCully to me, refusing to disclose any documents on the sale of New Zealand shares in the Pacific Forum Line.

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.

Hon Phil Goff: I seek leave of the House to table an extract from the New Zealand Government’s Owner’s Expectations Manual for State-Owned Enterprises, July 2012, which says that “A conflict of interest arises when a director’s duties or responsibilities to the company could be affected by some other interest or duty.”, and that “Directors must disclose any relationships and/or matters that give rise to an actual or potential conflict of interest.”

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.

Hon Phil Goff: Finally, I seek the leave of the House to table an extract from the Institute of Directors’ Code of Ethics and the Code of Practice for Directors, which says that the companies legislation requires directors having a conflict of interest to disclose the nature and extent of their interest—

Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is objection.