Perk-buster Hide sniffs fresh blood

By FRANCESCA MOLD, political reporter

Rodney Hide is a master when it comes to collecting the scalps of badly behaving public servants.

In the seven years he has been in Parliament, the Act MP has shattered the reputations of defence chiefs, the heads of key state-owned enterprises and hounded ministers responsible for their performance.

On Wednesday night, he added Te Mangai Paho chairman Toby Curtis to his list of victims.

The long-time supporter of Maori broadcasting lost his job after an audit report criticised his failure to deal with corruption allegations levelled at TMP by Mr Hide.

But the real target has always been Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia.

Mr Hide believes he can prove the minister misled Parliament with incorrect answers to questions about the TMP fiasco. He will continue to demand the Government removes Mr Horomia because of his incompetence in handling the concerns raised about his own officials.

It is not the first time Mr Hide has successfully brought down underperforming or misbehaving public servants.

The Act MP had a spectacular start to his career as the "perk-busting" MP in 1997 when he hooked one of the biggest fish in Parliament - long-time Labour MP, now Speaker, Jonathan Hunt.

Mr Hide's revelation that an unknown MP had spent more than the average annual wage on flitting round the country in taxpayer-funded taxis received intense media coverage. Caught in the glare, Mr Hunt revealed he was responsible for the $29,000 bill.

Then 1999 saw a prolonged campaign against Inland Revenue.

Mr Hide teamed up with New Zealand First to bring case after case to Parliament, in a bid to prove IRD was unfairly hounding taxpayers.

A parliamentary inquiry eventually found the department to be heavy-handed and dictatorial in its dealings with taxpayers.

Mr Hide's pursuit eventually resulted in the resignation of IRD commissioner Graham Holland in December 1999.

In 2001, Mr Hide targeted Labour Minister Margaret Wilson and an appointee to the Government's new flagship Employment Relations Authority, Susan Bathgate.

The MP gave Ms Bathgate the media-friendly title "triple-dipper".

She resigned after what she called a sustained "political attack".

The same year, Mr Hide kept constant pressure on the Defence Force and the Government's restructuring which saw the air-combat wing slashed and more money dedicated to the land-based forces.

That December, Army chief Maurice Dodson was censured after it was confirmed he had shredded sensitive documents in the lead-up to an inquiry. In February last year, Mr Dodson retired with his reputation in tatters.

Last year Mr Hide's focus on New Zealand Post and its troubled subsidiary Transend paid off well.

In March, Transend managing director Drew Stein resigned for "medical reasons" after an intense campaign by Mr Hide to expose his oversight of an organisation that wined and dined its way round the world with taxpayers' money.

Last December, former NZ Post chief executive Elmar Toime resigned to take up a new job in Britain. But his sudden departure followed a hellish year at the hands of Mr Hide, who had succeeded in having Parliament's privileges committee consider allegations that the post chief had lied to MPs.

Mr Hide was also responsible for tipping off the media to allegations Judge Robert Fisher was watching adult porn on his work computer. The judge was cleared of illegality but his reputation took a serious hit.

So far this year, Mr Hide has mostly focused on Te Mangai Paho - the agency responsible for funding Maori broadcasting.

But he did divert to reveal that former Alliance MP Phillida Bunkle was working on a taxpayer-funded alcohol advisory council while she was living in Britain.

She hadn't been paid - but she quickly resigned anyway.