Page 349 - Week 01 - Thursday, 16 February 2012
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matters and observe the official period of mourning according to his cultural tradition, and to care for his family in New Zealand and in Sydney during this time of grief. It was also, of course, a time of great grief for that staff member personally.
The situation was very much further complicated by the fact that the death also resulted in my staff member becoming an indigenous rangatira of his Maori people. He had to deal with significant cultural issues, including the staff member becoming a party to a High Court land rights case in New Zealand, and being the person who is and who is seen to be responsible for a great many people in his hapu and Treaty of Waitangi negotiations. Pressure was put on this staff member in no uncertain terms that his responsibilities lay with his traditional people and their land.
This led to some deep soul searching by my staff member, as well as significant legal, cultural and personal issues that needed to be resolved all at once. During this time, he continued to perform his duties, interspersed with leave to deal with these sensitive matters. It was during this time that I did not push the issue of timesheets. I cut him some slack. Now I stress, this period does not cover all the outstanding timesheet issues, but it goes to why it took so long to resolve and why I did not push harder at the time.
This was a period of significant emotional stress that has lasted 18 months and is still not resolved, still involving travel and all the burdens that a New Zealand Maori rangatira must carry, and the trauma and grief still being dealt with by his family. This is a large and, to any reasonable mind, understandable part of why this issue is not as clear-cut as it might initially appear. I am disappointed the ALP have sought to rip into his private life without showing the cultural sensitivity that he and all staff deserve.
I put this forward not as an excuse for the lateness of submitting timesheets but as a relevant factor, both in the time it took to resolve the matter and my own leniency in pursuing it. As stated earlier, these matters have since been resolved and I have had repeated assurances from Assembly staff that there are no outstanding compliance matters.
(b) The process of putting together the timesheets was not supervised by me personally. The verification comes from their supervisor’s own observations and trust in the staff members themselves. Every public servant in every government department on flexible working arrangements has similar arrangements.
(c) I am informed the timesheets were completed using a combination of a number of sources, all of which involve some type of contemporaneous record in this case. It involved a combination of timesheets that were recorded but not submitted. It involved the use of work diaries outlining the meetings and outcomes attended, and it involved electronic calendars set up and retained for various meetings. It included the provision of statutory declarations that have been provided and accepted.
I and other MLAs can attest to knowing of many of the meetings, forums and functions attended by the staff member during this period by personal knowledge and recollection. Furthermore, it matched what I knew to be happening in the community
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