There's an obvious downside to my arts reforms: if all the focus goes into small movies, then big films like my Shipwrecked on Islands movie might suffer. 'Chris Hipkins is the leader of the opposition, but not a leader of the resistance in the same way that Chloe and Marama and Rawiri and Debbie are.' - Gary
Tamatha was wearing a striking black dress. My view on fashion is that I'm judged for what I wear constantly, and one of the best things about being out and trans is that I can finally tell ladies what I think of their appearance.
The things that guys don't notice...
There was something about a breach of privilege in the preamble: I was slightly drunk and very bored, so these are very brief notes.
Debbie to Winston DN 6, WP 2 Acting PM Winston. Treaty challenge: another Ngata reference! 'woke media, woke academia' - Winston. I went to see the replica documents at the National Library today, and I suggest he do the same: they're all in Te Reo! 'A fiction made up of modern jurispredential action' - Winston on the modern interpretations of Te Tiriti O Waitangi. Then Winston really hurt Chloe's feelings with some very insulting remarks. 'Your audacity knows no bounds' - that's how it started, and it got worse.
Chippy to Winston CH 7, WP 3 Is climate change real? Well, Mr. Peters doesn't seem to think so, suggesting that it was both man-made and the result of long-term weather patterns. NIWA: humans are responsible for 33% of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. 'No one here pretends to be a scientist' - Winston. 'You spend a lot of your time pretending to be a lawyer or a politician' - Gary. To answer that question: I'm not being a virtual lawyer -- I'm an activist, and knowing one's rights under the law is one of the first steps that one takes. As a virtual politician, I'm Dagg mark 2.
Grant McCallum to Willis GM 6, NW 5 Public sector pay increases... labour costs are up 6.9% 'I love wage growth' - Nicola. 10% health sector boost, which Nicola said was the biggest since 2022. Labour applauded this with a great sense of dramatic irony.
Chloe to Winston CS 6, WP 2
Same as question 2. Winston said some debatable things at a conference in Tonga, yet also chatted with the UN guy who is in charge of climate change. 'Science is never set' - Shane Jones, bailing out his failing leader.
Uffindell to Reti SU 5, SR 6 Immunisation rates. $50 million has been given to Māori health providers to boost their immunisation rates, which seems suspiciously like targeting improving healthcare outcomes by admitting that there are health disparities within certain communities. Overall immunisation rates are dropping: 93% in 2016, and 81% in 2024. 'We want the health system to do better across the board.' - Reti
Edmonds to Willis BE 7, NW 4 'Record numbers of people are leaving the country: what the fuck?' - Gary 5000 fewer manufacturing jobs, 8000 fewer construction jobs.
Trask to Van Velden LT 5, BVV 5 Phase two of the Covid-19 inquiry is starting soon. This is the part that the cookers were clamouring for: an inquiry into the use of vaccines and the use of lockdowns, particularly the Auckland and Northland lockdowns. '20,000 lives were saved, but we made their money cry, so it's a bad thing ... anecdotes from cookers' - Gary. 'cooked' - I tried to get that to catch on with my mates as a term for being baked, but people thought it was silly. Now, however, it's in parlance!
Cheung to Upston CC 5, LU 4 Employment investment framework. There were three main points regarding this, but I only wrote down the first, which was 70,000 Jobseekers will have a case manager by the end of 2024. 'When programs succeed, they will continue ... we will not be afraid to stop them' - Upston Flexiwage: are they cancelling it? It sounded like they were planning to transfer those people to the Jobseeker benefit. Gary said their next move would be to lower the amount of income you can make before they cut your benefit, which is currently around $150 per week.
Andersen to Costello GA 6, CC 4 On behalf of Mark Mitchell regarding his letter of expectation to Andrew Coster. 'Retail crime is a sign of wealth inequality' - Gary. Meth: 'a lot of work still to be done' - Costello. Police funding has been reduced by $108 million, and a staffing reduction of 200 or something similar.
Teanau to Van Velden TT 7, BVV 4 Good question: miscategorisation of work status following the recent court ruling about Uber drivers. 'Started with the Hobbit movies' - Gary. Yes, I'm sure we all remember just how much Sir Peter and Dame Fran hung out the industry to dry on that count. As a result, films are in this really awkward position where all the 'employees' are technically independent contractors. So, yeah, no health protections or sick days or any of that shit. 'The world is a complicated place ... most contractors are very happy ... this government is intending to improve clarity' - Brooke Van Velden. 'Securing rights like minimum wage, sick days and holiday pay' - Teanau. I'm not 100% sure that's an exact quote: can't remember what the second one in the list was.
Weenink to Doocey VW 5, MD 6 Speed limits in Christchurch: the South Island's first 110 km/h road is the Southern Motorway from Christchurch to Rolleston. Gary said 'white supremacists on speed', but Lucinda's sister Melissa lives with her husband out there; the way Lucinda told it, there's lots of Asian families there. Compared to the transport goals of the previous government, which included lowering speed limits, this is obviously something for the rich joyriders with their fancy, gas-guzzling 4WD. 'The government's plan to accelerate New Zealand' - Weenink. Yes, it would appear they have a policy objective called 'accelerate New Zealand' .. at least that's more creative that slapping the word 'National' at the front of all their policy ideas.
Verrall to Costello AV 7, CC 3 Another grilling about the document provided to RNZ regarding tobacco advice. 'Go for the throat' - Gary. He really rates Verrall. 'It would be impossible to categorise the source of all the information and where it came from' - Costello, who also said that she has never been a tobacco lobbyist and has no connection to the tobacco industry. 'New Zealand's judging you' - Labour interjection. 'The document was a compilation' - Ayesha, stating the NZ First position.
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