Horomia says Te Mangai Paho has been 'tidied up'

11.45am

Under fire Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia says he has tidied up problems with Maori broadcasting agency Te Mangai Paho (TMP).

Mr Horomia was attacked by Opposition MPs for 30 minutes in Parliament yesterday over giving incorrect answers on the spending activities of TMP.

He told the House he had been given incorrect information by his department.

Asked on National Radio today whether that called into question his competence he said: "I suppose in part it does, but let's be clear on this ... we have tidied this up."

Mr Horomia appointed TMP interim chairman Wira Gardiner to review its operations after a damning Treasury report on the agency.

Former chairman Toby Curtis stepped down when the report was released. The performance of chief executive Trevor Moeke is part of the review.

An inquiry found former TMP employee Tame Te Rangi was involved in the allocation of grants to Maori Sports Casting International (MSCI) while being paid by the company for commentary work.

Mr Horomia said he could not be expected to know about every contract that TMP let.

ACT MP Rodney Hide is considering a breach of privilege complaint with Speaker Jonathan Hunt, saying Mr Horomia took too long to correct his wrong answers.

That had made it difficult to hold TMP to account, he said.

"What was happening here was that the officials, and thereby the minister by his answers, was shielding the wrongdoing," he said.

"The minister did nothing about this. His answers to Parliament were incorrect and now he is trying to have us believe that he has only just discovered they were wrong."

Mr Hide said he had little faith in a privilege complaint "getting to the bottom of it".

"The difficulty that I have is that the Speaker has been pretty helpful to the minister in terms of allowing him answers.

"I think that we do have two standards of accountability, one for Maori ministers and one for every other."

He had "not a lot" of faith in the process, he said.

Mr Horomia was a "lame duck" minister who talked gibberish in the House and was not being held accountable for his answers, Mr Hide said.

Mr Horomia looks set to become a long-term thorn in the Government's side, as Opposition MPs are unlikely to let up in their efforts to attack him.

It is likely associate minister John Tamihere will take a more prominent public role in the issue, after already having fronted on it previously.

National MP Murray McCully has vowed to keep the heat on Mr Horomia over thousands of grants given to Maori organisations over the past three years.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said "inverse racism" was operating, as Prime Minister Helen Clark would not tolerate the same standard from a non-Maori minister.

Mr Horomia is said to be popular with traditional Maori, whereas Mr Tamihere has an urban background seen as less acceptable to that group.

Performance in the debating chamber is only a small -- if highly visible -- part of a minister's job.

Mr Horomia yesterday flummoxed Opposition MPs in the House for the second day running with his confusing answers.

He admitted he gave incorrect answers -- including saying Mr Te Rangi had never received any cash from MSCI -- but was only acting on officials' advice.

Te Puni Kokiri chief executive Leith Comer apologised last month, saying he in turn was given the wrong information.

Mr Horomia tried to make a personal explanation to Parliament of his actions but was denied leave to do so by Opposition MPs.

Mr Hide wanted to know why it had taken so long for Mr Horomia to come clean, as Mr Comer had apologised for the incorrect information weeks ago.

Mr Horomia, wielding a report on correct answers to questions on TMP, shed little light on the matter.

"There were mistakes in information given to me. I received this (report) on June 9, which is a summary of all the correct answers, I hope, today."

That would mean Mr Horomia realised the answers were wrong on Monday, weeks after being apologised to by Mr Comer for providing incorrect information.

In a later question, Mr Horomia said he actually received an apology from Mr Comer on April 10, but that the apology was not in relation to the contracts between TMP and MSCI.

Mr Horomia said in Parliament yesterday that he was "disappointed" the former board and senior management had not acted more decisively in dealing with Mr Te Rangi.

- NZPA