Statement of Contingent Liabilities

as at 30 June

This statement discloses situations that exist at 30 June, the ultimate outcome of which is uncertain and will be confirmed only on the occurrence of one or more future events after 30 June.

	2007 Actual $000	2006 Actual $000
Quantifiable Contingent Liabilities
Department
Legal proceedings	0	20
Total department	0	20
Non-department
Legal proceedings	950	1,206
Settlement	0	250
Total non-department	950	1,456
Total contingent liabilities	950	1,476

These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the statement of accounting policies on pages 51 to 53 and the notes to the financial statements on pages 62 to 71.

Legal proceedings

On 2 December 2003, the Primary Production Committee (PPC) released the report on its inquiry into the administration and management of the scampi fishery. One of its recommendations was that six parties identified by the PPC should each receive a minimum ex gratia payment from the Ministry of Fisheries in recognition of the justified grievance they each had with the previous Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.In July 2007, Cabinet approved a negotiated settlement for two fishers (one of which was named in the PPC report).

Unquantifiable contingent liabilities

The Ministry also has a number of contingent liabilities which cannot be quantified at 30 June 2007. These arise primarily from permit and allocation decisions and employment matters.