Phil Heatley MP
National Party Housing Spokesman

2 June 2008

PM dumps on board that Minister was on

The Prime Minister’s efforts to pass the buck on the Housing New Zealand conferences held at luxury venues appears to have backfired, says National Party Housing spokesman Phil Heatley.

“Helen Clark said this morning the conferences and the venues were the responsibility of the board, which the chief executive reports to. The thing is, the current Housing Minister was on the board when this was happening.”

Maryan Street was appointed to the Housing New Zealand board by Labour and served until 2005. HNZ has confirmed a stay at the plush Hotel & Spa du Vin happened in 2003.

“So the Housing Minister was on the board when this stuff was happening, which is probably why Maryan Street initially said she was ‘all for’ the conferences at upmarket venues.

“Did the HNZ Board ever get asked to sign off on the budgets for these events? Were they reported to the Board at any stage?

“Because these conferences involved a new HNZ unit, one would expect there’d be a close watch on its activities.

“Was Maryan Street ever party to those discussions?”

Helen Clark on Newstalk ZB: ‘Now these things never have come to the attention of ministers … This is a corporation which has an independent board, has a chief executive who reports to that board’.

ENDS

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