Question Time 29.8.23

brought a wonky pen with me today, so my handwriting is tricky to read. Lots of kids around today: Youth Parliament? - Gary reckons I should join the Press Gallery. If I'm still in Wellington after the Election, I would, but otherwise I dunno if I'd be able to travel often enough for it to be worth it. If I had a decent job, maybe. - Delegation from Malaysia in the Speaker's Gallery. The name-tags on the new security uniforms are cool; nice to put some names to the faces. - James McDowall read the opening prayer in Ukranian. Waititi suppression order breach resulted in a suspension for breaking standing order 114, while Rurawhe said there was no need to 'inquire further' about standing order 116. I saw David Seymour pull out his desk phone, which gave me an idea for the musical... for the pre-Ferry Government business sequence that I haven't written yet. - 1. Coffey to Robertson Central Government is cost-sharing with the Hawke's Bay, Gisborne and Waikato councils. $1.7 billion from the National Resilience Plan will be invested to lead local recovery. The Government is covering half the cost of buying/building category 3 residential properties in Hawke's Bay and Auckland (and possibly other places... not sure). Auckland Council is receiving $877 million for flood recovery, with the potential for up to $1.1 billion to be invested, plus $110 million for local transport. 'A number of consultation meetings' have been held with Iwi Maori - Robertson. - 2. Shaw to Parker Simeon: 'ghost rail' Chloe: 'down, Simeon' 'The Government is committed to Auckland Light Rail' - Robertson. The proposed Waitemata changes are too expensive. Then Shaw had an emissions question, which Parker answered by saying Labour plans to build four-lane highways. - 3. Luxon to Hipkins 'An economy that is 2.9% larger than it was a year ago... more NZers in work than ever before... .. a 44% increase in the minimum wage [since 2017]' - Hipkins 'reckless economic plans' - Luxon about Labour... doom and gloom from National. 'We're not focused on delivering tax cuts for those who need them the least' - Hipkins 'Looks like they want to start talking about holes again' - Gary - 4. Ngobi to Woods 'The largest state house building project since the Walter Nash Government' - Woods Dannevirke hadn't had a new house built for 20 years until Labour built some. lolly scramble politics. - 5. Ngarewa-Packer to Hipkins 145% funding increase for Whanau Ora since 2017. It's funny to watch Hipkins struggle with the Maori names for all the organisations! 'What message is your government sending to rangatahi?' - Ngarewa-Packer 'break the cycle of offending... the member has mischaracterised this issue' - Hipkins 'Why is intervention always a big stick?' - Gary. - 6. Willis to Robertson NZ has experienced 10.2% economic growth since the second quarter last year. 'As a small, open economy, New Zealand is at risk from changes in the global economy' - Robertson. 'This is a global crisis' 'The member and her co-leader' - Robertson subtly putting down Luxon. Looking forward to the end of these questions. :-) - 7. Leavasa to Tinetti 180 million free school lunches delivered during 2022. It's a no-brainer: why is this even a subject of debate? 'This Government believes in barrier-free access to education' - Tinetti A family with 2 kids saves $66 per week. 230,000 kids receive a free lunch every day. - 8. Seymour to Hipkins 'lowest level of coal imports since 2013' - Hipkins A boring to-and-fro about climate change mitigation vs. adaptation. 'I think our economic track record is pretty good' - Hipkins Yeah, right: just like Steven Joyce though National's samples of Eminem were 'pretty legal' 'He has not kept the country safe for the past 6 years' - Seymour. - 9. Leary to Little A new visa pathway for Special Ukrainian Visas. Up until March 14,2024, visa holders can apply for residency in Aotearoa-New Zealand. 720 people have traveled to NZ using this visa, including return trips. 'Their kids are becoming more Kiwi every day' - Little. He really is stuck in the past with lines like that... NZ has provided $58 million of military assistance to Ukraine. - 10. Doocey to Verrall I thought Verrall was very good on this question. Normally she seems slightly flustered, but this was very solid. 'New Zealand is experiencing pressures in all areas of the mental health workforce... This Government has built a primary mental health system from the ground up.' - Verrall Clinical psychiatrist numbers are 16 lower than they were 6 years ago, which isn't all that much tbh. Apparently NZ has been investing into training and staffing psychologists instead, which is a subtle, but important, distinction. - 11. Walters to Andersen 'The current level of youth offending is unacceptable' - Andersen New aggravating factors have been introduced for adults who use children to commit crimes. Boot camps don't work, according to a former Chief Science Advisor. - The Make it 16 crew turned up to the Speaker's Gallery during this question and Gary waved to them. 12. Mitchell to Andersen. Watch it, it's hilarious! She quotes RNZ liberally.