Question Time 30.1.2024

Liveblogging from home. Haven't seen the questions, so I'll be winging it. - 2:02 pm - New MP Celia Wade-Brown makes affirmation of allegiance in Māori. - 2:03 pm - New MP Tracy McLellan makes afirmation of allegiance. - 2:04 pm - Luxon moves a motion to discuss the recent death of an old Governor General: Sir Michael Hardie Boys. I'd never heard of him before. 2:07pm - Chris Hipkins supports the motion and gives a speech of his own. 2:10pm - James Shaw's turn. I'm doing my nails. 2:12pm - David Seymour's turn. 2:14pm - Winston Peters' turn. 2:15pm - Tākuta Ferris' turn. In Māori, obviously. The motion to express condolences passed unanimously. - Ministerial Statement. Judith is justifying her recent troop deployment to fight the Houthis. Peeni Henare makes a rebuttal. This is feeling like another lengthy Gaza debate. I'm hungry and want to grab lunch, so I might leave and come back. - 2:30pm - I'm back. Marama's in the middle of her speech and sounding very fired-up. I'm going to stick around until 3pm, and if there haven't been any questions by then, then I'll log out and continue editing my Sondheim compliation tape. I was being slightly facetious when I called it 'another lengthy Gaza debate' .. I'm very interested in the policy implications of these continued military deployments, given AMPP's stance of supporting a demilitarised defence force and an independent foreign policy of joining the non-aligned group (aka the Global South). We're more like a Global South state than people typically assume. We were a banana republic until the 1970's, and even now there's plenty of dodgy infrastructure, plus we're a former colony of a European former superpower. - 'This deployment isn't about money; it is about doing the right thing.' - Judith Collins 'New Zealanders are not freeloaders. We are going to do our bit' - Judith. - 2:43pm - Question 1. Bidois to Willis. 'Over the last three years, costs have risen by a total of 19 percent.' - Willis. 'Global factors are not the main contributors to inflation' - Willis. DB 7/10, NW 7/10 - 2:46pm - Question 2 Hipkins to Luxon. Luxon got slightly tongue-tied in his boosterism of new education policies. 'We're on track to deliver Smokefree 2025' - Luxon. Will Government revenue increase from the new smoking laws? - Hipkins. Luxon dodged that by saying it wasn't in the public interest to share revenue projections. Supplementaries from Peters and Seymour backed up the PM. CH 6/10, CL 6/10 - 2:52pm - Question 3. Takutai Tarsh Kemp to Luxon. Hana-Rawhiti is delivering the supplementaries. Now it's Takutai's turn; calling him out for supporting ACT's policies. 'There is no commitment to support the bill after first reading' - Luxon. TPM 6/10, CL 6/10. - 2:54pm - Question 4 Rima Nakhle to Chris Bishop. Vacant homes question. 'They'd much rather be moving into a new home than sitting in an emergency accomodation motel room.' - Bishop. 'Social housing should not be left vacant for a day longer than necessary.' - Bishop. This was a very confident patsy question. Ginny Andersen had supplementaries about homelessness in Lower Hutt, which is where Ginny and Chris both reside; the electorate changed hands in the 2023 election. RN 7/10, CB 8/10 - 2:58pm - Question 5 Grant Robertson to Nicola Willis. 'Not all proposals put forward by agencies will necessarily be progressed by ministers' - Willis. Grant is very good today. Very sharp questions. 'It is the case that we can save funding in one area, and increase it in another' - Willis. GR 8/10, NW 6/10 - 3:03pm - Question 6 Marama to Luxon. Asking him about the Treaty. 'The Government has no plans to change the Treaty or Treaty settlements' - Luxon. 'We are yet to see a draft Treaty Principles Bill.' - Luxon. This is Luxon's teflon mode. This is what makes him dangerous. Now he's white knighting; it's hilarious when my skits presage real life. 🤣 MD 7/10, CL 9/10 - I'm rather stoned; check Hansard for exact quotes: I'm more accurate in the room rather than watching on TV. - 3:07pm - Question 7 Willie Jackson to Tama Potaka. 'Who should New Zealanders believe?' - Willie. This question has been a bit of a trainwreck. Does the Minister's iwi support the Treaty Principles Bill? - Willie. That was out-of-order. KPI-led solutions for our rangatahi - Shane Jones. WJ 6/10, TP 5/10. - 3:14pm - Question 8 James Meager to Simeon Brown. 'Changing the voting age for local government is not a priority for this government.' - Brown. Why is lowering the voting age not a priority? - Meager. 'It's a distraction' - Brown. Simeon is one of those glued-to-their-paper speakers that is always looking down. JM 6/10, SB 6/10. - 3:17pm - Question 9 Ayesha Verall to Casey Costello. This is the opening salvo of what will probably be a huge, ongoing debate. I expect many months of the same questions being asked word-for-word. 'The latest New Zealand Health Survey figures released in December show that daily smoker rates have nearly halved ... smoking rates have reduced considerably in the last two years ... significant drops for Māori and Pasifika ... this supports continuing the trajectory that we are on.' - Costello 'Was the Prime Minister wrong when he said in statements to Radio New Zealand this morning that she made a mistake?' - Ayesha. AV 7/10, CC 7/10. - 3:22pm - Question 10 Paulo Garcia to Erica Stanford. 'A relentless focus on improving student achievement' - Stanford. 'Strengthening our curriculum ... spending enough time on the basics ... removing distractions from the class' -- same as ever. PG 6/10, ES 6/10 - 3:25pm - Question 11 Ginny Andersen to Mark Mitchell. How would a 6.5 percent cut to the police budget affect public safety? - Andersen. 500 police officers over the next three years. 'The Australians are here recruiting our police officers.' - Mitchell. Tough questions. Both are former NZ police employees. Every time I see Mark Mitchell on TV, I can't help but think how much he resembles Birch Barlow from The Simpsons. 🤣 'We're gonna make sure the front line are resourced properly.' - Mitchell. GA 8/10, MM 6/10. - 3:28pm - Question 12 James Shaw to Christopher Luxon. James is retiring, which isn't all that surprising. Is the PM concerned that NZ is the only country still bottom trawling in the Pacific? - Shaw. Very wonky question for environment and foreign policy buffs. JS 7/10, CL 4/10. - Ok, well, that's it for today. AMPP began with 191 points. I scored 73 points, bringing me up to 264.