Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully is rejecting claims of cronyism over appointments to a new aid funding panel.
Mr McCully has appointed sitting National MP John Hayes and Peter Kiely, a lawyer who has represented the National Party, to a three-person panel to decide grants from the Sustainable Development Fund.
The fund gives out about $30 million a year.
The Labour Party says Murray McCully is wrong to politicise the aid sector with people close to the Government.
Mr McCully told Parliament Mr Hayes is a former Pacific diplomat who has been in charge of the overall aid programme and who now chairs the Foreign Affairs select committee.
Mr McCully says he can't think of anyone who would be more suitable for the new panel.
