J. 7 Register of Pecuniary Interests of Members of Parliament: Summary of annual returns as at 31 January 2010 Forty-ninth Parliament Presented to the House of Representatives pursuant to Appendix B of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives REGISTER OF PECUNIARY INTERESTS OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT: SUMMARY OF ANNUAL RETURNS J. 7 2 REGISTER OF PECUNIARY INTERESTS OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT: SUMMARY OF ANNUAL RETURNS J. 7 MISTER SPEAKER I have the honour to provide to you, pursuant to clause 16(3) of Appendix B of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, a copy of the summary booklet containing a fair and accurate description of the information contained in the Register of Pecuniary Interests of Members of Parliament, as at 31 January 2010. Dame Margaret Bazley DNZM, Hon DLit Registrar of Pecuniary Interests of Members of Parliament 3 REGISTER OF PECUNIARY INTERESTS OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT: SUMMARY OF ANNUAL RETURNS J. 7 Introduction Since 2005 Standing Orders have provided a system for members of Parliament to register their pecuniary interests, such as the assets, debts and gifts they may each have accumulated or received. This provides a protection against arguments that a possible conflict might arise between a member’s public duty and private interests. If certain things are made known and registered, concerns regarding conflicts of interest can be minimised. The requirements are set out in Standing Order 159 and Appendix B of the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives. It is a register designed to protect members in the event of scrutiny, rather than being a recital of wealth and indebtedness. It is also a registration of the kind of interests, not their individual value or specific location. Appendix B of the Standing Orders is reproduced as an annex to this booklet. Members are required to register interests in 13 categories set out in clauses 4 to 7 of Appendix B. These are listed below. Items 1 to 9 require a ‘snapshot’ of interests as at 31 January 2010. Items 10 to 13 cover the period from the member’s previous return, or from their election to Parliament, until 31 January 2010. This booklet summarises the information provided in members’ returns in respect of any of the categories below. 1 Company directorships and controlling interests (clause 4(1)(a)) 2 Interests (such as shares and bonds) in companies and business entities (clauses 4(1)(b) and 4(2)) 3 Employment (clause 4(1)(c)) 4 Beneficial interests in trusts (clause 4(1)(d)) 5 Organisations and trusts seeking Government funding (clause 4(1)(e)) 6 Real property (clause 4(1)(f)) 7 Superannuation schemes (clause 4(1)(g)) 8 Debtors (clauses 4(1)(h), 4(3), 5, and 6) 9 Creditors (clauses 4(1)(i), 4(3), 5, and 6) 10 Overseas travel costs (clauses 7(1)(a) and 7(2)) 11 Gifts (clauses 7(1)(b) and 7(3)) 12 Discharged debts (clause 7(1)(c)) 13 Payments for activities (clause 7(1)(d)) For details of declaration requirements in each category, the clause references in Appendix B of the Standing Orders (see Annex) are given above. Note about gifts Several members have identified Air New Zealand’s Koru Club and the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge as gifts from the airlines. The annual value of these is borderline in terms of the $500 threshold above which items must be registered. Therefore, members have made varying decisions about whether to include these in their returns. Rather than including these in each member’s entry, this note serves to identify that these items are a gift that many, if not all, members have in common. 4 REGISTER OF PECUNIARY INTERESTS OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT: SUMMARY OF ANNUAL RETURNS J. 7 Comment In the 2009 Summary I noted that there had been a high level of effort on the part of members to comply fully with the requirements to declare their interests, and to apply the principles stated by the Privileges Committee in 2008.1 These principles include: o Members making an honest attempt to declare all pecuniary interests that they hold o Members turning their minds to the interests that they have o Members taking the approach of “if in doubt, declare it”. The lodging of returns this year has shown a similar high level of effort by members. For all but one member, this was at least their second return of pecuniary interests so they were already familiar with the process. I wish to acknowledge members’ cooperation with the requirements and timeframe set out in Standing Orders. Māori land interests In 2009 I gave particular consideration to the requirements to declare interests in trusts and real property, and how those requirements apply to members with interests in jointly-held Māori land. Members are required to declare the name of each trust in which the member has a beneficial interest and, separately, the location of each parcel of real property in which the member has a pecuniary interest, unless the member has no beneficial interest in the real property (clause 4(1)(d) and (f) of Appendix B of Standing Orders). Therefore, members are required to declare an interest in real property held in a trust, unless they have no beneficial interest in it, as well as any interest in real property that is owned directly by the member. I have become aware that these requirements are causing complexities for members who have interests in Māori land. This refers specifically to land as defined in section 129 of Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 as Māori customary land, Māori freehold land or general land owned by Māori. This land is frequently held in a trust, which may have numerous beneficiaries. Members have indicated to me that it can be difficult to identify interests they may have in jointly-held Māori land, making it challenging for members with such interests to comply with the requirements in Standing Orders. These requirements do not make any distinction between declaring this type of trust or land interest, and any other trust or land. Also, in its 2008 report the Privileges Committee found that members are expected to take responsibility for knowing their own interests. Given that these 1 Question of privilege relating to compliance with a member’s obligations under the Standing Orders dealing with pecuniary interests, Report of the Privileges Committee, September 2008 (I.17D) 5 REGISTER OF PECUNIARY INTERESTS OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT: SUMMARY OF ANNUAL RETURNS J. 7 requirements were clearly causing problems in some specific situations, I decided to hold meetings with members to give them the opportunity to explain the difficulties to me. I wished to ascertain whether there was a real and substantial difference between having an interest in Māori land and having an interest in any other real property, such that would justify a different level of declaration in members’ returns of pecuniary interests. Several issues were identified at discussions and meetings to which all members were invited. I have considered these issues, which related both to practical matters and to the principle of whether such interests should be declared. Practical issues include: o Members may not know that they have an interest in a Māori land trust, as they may be one of hundreds of beneficiaries. o Where they are aware of their interest in such a trust, it can be onerous to identify the particular blocks of land held by the trust. Matters of principle include: o Whether an interest in Māori land is essentially different from other land interests, as the land usually cannot be sold. o Māori land is viewed as an inheritance, not a commodity. o Do these factors mean that members may not have a true pecuniary interest in such land? While I understand the difficulties members have in this area, I do not consider that this relieves them of the obligation to declare their interest in Māori land and land trusts. Standing Orders require members to disclose the name of each trust in which the member has a beneficial interest (cl 4(1)(d)). This, supported by the guidance given by the Privileges Committee, leads me to the view that members should turn their minds to these interests and make a reasonable attempt to identify each trust in which they have an interest. I also do not consider that the requirement to declare these interests is reduced in any way by the fact that the interest may be extremely small, or that the land may not be able to be sold. Standing Orders make no distinction as to the size of an interest; any relevant interest should be declared. I also consider that a pecuniary interest in real property is not limited to the potential profits from sale of the property. For example, beneficiaries of Māori land trusts often receive annual payments from those trusts. In terms of registering the land itself, members must disclose the location of each parcel of real property in which the member has a pecuniary interest, unless the member has no beneficial interest in the real property (cl 4(1)(f)). For all land and other real property, members are expected to give a general location but not a street address. I do not consider it necessary or reasonable to expect members to identify each individual parcel of Māori land by its Māori Land Court block number. It is acceptable for members to identify the general location only. This could be described in several ways, but an example of wording could be “Various Māori land blocks in [name of district], held by [name of] Trust”.