I think there was some confusion between VN and GG as to what was definition of an "entry grade minister". VN may have referred to a Senior Minister of State, but GG thought it referred to the most junior Cabinet Minister. Indeed, ministers can come in from both ranks. Eg Chan Chun Sing as Acting Cabinet, while Tan Chuan Jin is a MOS.
VN's question on suggesting an alternative proposal, even before the original proposal was released, was a silly question.
And I think before we accuse GG of being non-transparent, we have to check if there was an undertaking or oath of secrecy the Committee compelled all MPs to take not reveal what they told the Committee. This is because such information, if duly released, would reflect the level of receptivity of the Committee and whether the act of collecting feedback was for show or a few ideas were adopted after consideration. So it's common for government committees to practice such undertaking or oath.
If this was the case, VN becomes doubly silly because as one of the MPs approached by the Committee to give ideas, he would have known about this undertaking or oath.
In the end VN only won on eloquence and smooth delivery while GG who spoke like an average broken-English Singaporean handled the questions well.