Question Time 08.05.2024

I'm writing a poem about the Māori Party protest this arvo, but this is Question Time + a half-hour debate that opened the session. Gas supply debate: It opened with a long, boring speech by Simeon. I tuned out partway through. 'New Zealanders need energy security' - Simeon. Megan Woods has a new haircut! Good speech, too. Scott Willis from the Greens spoke about previously consented renewable energy farms that 'can be built tomorrow' 'Get your dick out of the mouth of resource extractors' - Gary, zinging the Government. Next was Simon Court ... 'which donor paid you to say that?' - Gary Shane Jones was LOUD! 'power at any cost ... look at the rivers, Shane' - Avocado Princess. Then he said 'let the serious politicians...' - classic ageism and misogyny from Jonesy. Debbie: 'no Māori iwi affected in Taranaki' want an expansion of oil and gas exploration. 'How are you engaging with Māori on this issue?' 'Sustainable, environmentally proud and assertive' - Debbie's aspirations for Aotearoa. - 1. Chippy to the Prime Omelette 'We're ambitious for our kids' - Omelette Winston challenged the definition of a woman during one of the supplementaries regarding gender parity ... transphobia is alive, and so is conflating the issues. 2. Marama to the Prime Omelette Luxon pleaded with the Greens to support the fast track consenting bill. 'Either you're serious about solving climate change, or you're not' - Omelette. 'What are they doing to build wind farms faster? - Gary. 3. Edmonds to Willis Long, boring answers. Ranting on about opportunity cost: 'every dollar spent is going towards maximum value' - Nicola. 'This is why you'll never win a seat in this city' - Gary. Nicola's contested several of the Wellington electorates, but she's never won. 4. Liu to Willis Patsy question. Big speech on fiscal responsibility. 'The important thing is to make progress over the medium term' - Nicola. 'What about capital gains, Nicola?' - Chloe. 5. Russell to Simmonds Te Pūkenga: 'they did not have a credible path back to being financially viable' - Simmonds. Deborah Russell accused her of breaking the Crown Entities Act and the Cabinet Manual by giving them an operational directive. Penny Simmonds contested this view of events. 6. Uffindell to Stanford Education: same bullshit as always. I fucking hate Education questions. Both sides reckon that their philosophy is best, and neither works. 7. Leary to Doocey Suicide prevention office. It appears as if they're hiring more people in the mental health sector, but Doocey claimed that there was going to be another full-time staffer specialising in suicide prevention. 8. Nakhle to Upston Oranga Tamariki: 'improving oversight.' Another bullshit question. 9. Toiono to Jones Protecting marine wildlife from trawlers. Jonesy's answers were curiously elliptical, punctuated by long pauses. 12,000 jobs. $2.3 billion per anum. 10. Webb to Goldsmith Voting rights for prisoners, though that was subtext rather than text. The Greens took a lot of flack today. Kieran McAnulty pointed out that - yet again - the Government is using Questions to attack the opposition, Brownlee wasn't persuaded. Then Cameron Luxton said something about removing 'race-based' representative systems, referring to the Environment Canterbury board (which was out of order, but Brownlee eventually let that slide). 11. Mariameno Kapa-Kingi to Shane Reti 'This Government cares about the health needs of all children.' - Reti, answering a question about inequitable outcomes for wahine Māori. Good question. Worth watching. 12. Macleod to Mitchell More on the $1.9 billion prison spend. How does it make people safer if you're only building the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff?