Question Time 11.09.2024

Gary's two cents: the opposition should be more like a government-in-waiting. Opened with a celebration of all the Paralympic athletes which took 20 minutes. The hypocrisy of the Prime Omelette moving a motion to honour the Paralympians as his coalition cuts back on disability services was striking, as was the lack of a mention from the Green Party how disastrous the Olympic games are from a climate justice viewpoint. They could have written a tautoko that was more scathing. 1. Van Der Molen to Bishop TV 5, CB 5 'Government spending and revenue are clearly out of balance' - Bishop 'The government is not considering a wealth tax' - Bishop 2. Hipkins to the Omelette CH 8, PO 2 Cancer drugs. 'They can't get to the hospital to get the drugs' - Gary Prime Omelette was stumbling over his lines, reading from the sheet. Lots of chatter about firearms law, with Minister McKee having been given the power to define what a prohibited weapon is. More fumbling over Korea and the ferry contracts. 3. Nimon to Bishop KM 5, CB 5 National Infrastructure Agency. A new 30-year plan to be provided by the Infrastructure Commission. 4th to last in the OECD for asset management. Dead last in professionalism and accountability. 4. Unkovich to Costello TU 5, CC 5 Drug busts through Customs: 1.2 tonnes of methamphetamine on shore, and 1.7 tonnes of methamphetamine off shore. 'That means 50 tonnes are getting through ... the only way to shut them down is to change the law' - Gary 5. Edmonds to Bishop BE 6, CB 4 Ferries... upgrading port facilities. Bland, non-committal answers. 'A resilient connection across the Cook Strait' - Bishop.

6. Julie Anne to Slimeon N/A - pausing my reviews of the Wellington greenies. 7. Jackson to Seymour WJ 7, DS 3 Treaty Principles: 'you might even say it [this government] has kotahitanga.' - Pink Skull. Tedious to sit through, but Brownlee got in some good digs at the Pink Skull. 'Discipline him!' - Gary. 8. Debbie to Omelette D7, PO 4 Omelette on emergency housing. 'Putting them back in cars' - Gary Health: 'health should be offered on the basis of need.' - Omelette. 22% of Māori are unable to see a GP when they need to. 'We believe strongly in this government in localism and devolution' - Omelette. 9. Andersen to McKee GA 6, NM 4 Changes to regulations around gun clubs and firing ranges. Proposed change to Section 74A in the Cabinet minutes. 'That sounds like the good guy with a gun argument. Imported directly from the USA' - Gary 10. Macleod to Slimeon DM 5, SB 5 $32.9 billion investment in transport. Roads of National Significance.

NLTP = National Land Transport Programme 11 Utikere to Slimeon TV 7, SB 5 More on the NLTP (National *Party* Land Transport Programme) Tangi made a joke about it being the National "Party" LTP in response to the tendency of National Party governments to slap their party name in the middle of proposed policies. ... my brain was fading -- 3:19pm. Is he adding road tolls to funded roads because his plans don't add up? Slimeon had a lame answer. 12. Paul to Jonesy (on behalf of Mitchell). So, there's no review, but I wrote other things down. Commentary: Good question. Treaty Provisions are going to be removed from the Corrections Act. Battle of generations between Tam and Jonesy. Battle of statistics.