Cullen accuses greenhorn National MP of arrogance

One of National's new MPs earned the ire of political veteran Michael Cullen yesterday for drawing attention to one of his own tax problems during a select committee hearing.

Craig Foss, who won the Tukituki seat from Labour's Rick Barker at the last election, used his own GST case to highlight how long it takes to contact Inland Revenue staff.

The incident occurred at a select committee discussion on Wednesday which was attended by Revenue Minister Peter Dunne and senior Inland Revenue staff.

Mr Foss drew attention to Inland Revenue's claim that it had improved response rates to customer queries. He said his experience was very different.

"I have spent - and my wife has spent - hours on the phone trying to get through on various numbers to IRD," Mr Foss said at the meeting.

"I am bringing up a personal case here, because thousands of Kiwis are having the same problem. How on Earth am I able to get through to your operational staff to discuss an issue?"

Mr Dunne replied by saying that statistics he had seen indicated that Inland Revenue was meeting its response targets.

But he added that the select committee wasn't the appropriate forum for such a discussion, and suggested Mr Foss contact his office to follow it up - but the first-term MP said he didn't want special treatment.

Yesterday in Parliament, Dr Cullen used the exchange to shoot down a question Mr Foss posed to him about dog microchipping.

The Finance Minister said he regarded it as arrogant that Mr Foss had used the committee for his own financial purposes.