Minister gets grilling before court evidence

By AUDREY YOUNG political reporter

Before confronting the Christine Rankin accusations in the Employment Court yesterday, Social Services Minister Steve Maharey paid a special tribute to a more-favoured public servant, Dame Margaret Bazley.

From tomorrow, the stoic Dame Margaret will temporarily take over the Department of Work and Income when Christine Rankin's fixed-term contract ends.

Mr Maharey's big day began with Dame Margaret at her former Ministry of Social Policy offices, behind Parliament, at 9 am.

He was there to launch The Social Report 2001, a book produced by the ministry, setting out indicators for measuring New Zealand's social health.

Dame Margaret, wearing a calf-length black skirt and snugly fitting grape-coloured jacket and scarf, introduced her minister to the social service boffins, including one who assumed the lotus position.

She recalled discussing the book with someone in Edinburgh this year and wondering if she would be able to meet the minister's tight deadline.

Mr Maharey paid tribute to the fact that she had done so, and added a touch of vintage Maharey facetiousness: "It is one of the most delightful things to hear someone like Dame Margaret say that even in Edinburgh she was walking down the Royal Mile thinking about me. That's the kind of service you want."

The minister arrived back at the Beehive just as Mrs Rankin was taking her usual short-cut to the court through Parliament grounds.

Mr Maharey and staffers pulled up about 20m away to avoid any embarrassing encounters.

It was like stopping respectfully at the passing of a funeral cortege, a journalist observed.

"Don't print that," said Mr Maharey. Sensitivity was running understandably high.

Before his day in court, the minister faced another grilling, at the social services select committee about expenditure in his areas for the past year.

If the aim of Act MP Muriel Newman and National's David Carter was to unsettle Mr Maharey, they succeeded.

Mr Carter asked him to keep his answers brief to save time and Mr Maharey assumed the sulking position.

More than once he said Mr Carter could save time by finding the answers in a Colin James article in the Herald.

He accused Muriel Newman of being "excited" and Mr Carter of being "precious."

But by the time he arrived at court at 11 am, Mr Maharey had assumed a calmer position. The most rattled he became in four hours on the stand was having to ask the registrar for a tissue for a cold.

He was dressed for court - a pure white shirt, charcoal suit, and an olive tie - but no match for Mrs Rankin's stunning, look-at-me tangerine silk jacket with black brocade on the sleeves.

Eyes were on Mr Maharey, however, as he coolly gave his version of their relationship over the past 18 months.

His answer to her damning claim that he criticised the way she dressed was that he was concerned with the image of the department's having a culture of extravagance.

"I was trying to convey a very simple message: a chief executive of a public service department whose role is to deliver services to people who, on the whole, cannot afford expensive clothes, might want to give some thought to how they present in the public domain.

"At times I had difficulty in getting Ms Rankin to see sense. She seemed to almost enjoy the high degree of media attention, whether it was negative or not, in a perverse way."

The case continues today. Next to take the stand will be none other than Dame Margaret.