Question Time 05.03.2024

Arrived in time to watch Brian Tamaki speak (from across the road near the High Court). I flipped him the bird, but I doubt he saw that. It was quite a heated day; I thought the mic levels might have been slightly loud. - 1. Hipkins to Peters (acting PM) 'As acting Prime Minister, I stand by what I say' - Peters, while ducking questions. Then he defended the cuts to school lunches! Life imitates art... that's what happens when the SIS are reading your screenplay. A burn: 'who threw money around like an eight-armed octopus!' - Peters on Hipkins. CH 7/10, WP 4/10 - 2. Weenink to Willis Why did tax revenue come in lower than forecast? 'Because not enough people are smoking' - Gary. Write-down of Cook Strait Ferry project. 'Since 2018, Government spending has increased by 73%' - Willis. VW 5/10, NW 6/10 - 3. Utikere to Brown How does the Government plan to fund roads? 'It's called privatisation' - Gary. TU 7/10, SB 4/10. - 4. Marama to Winston Winston's solution to the truancy crisis: cut the free lunches, compulsory attendance. 'Anecdotes over evidence' - Gary. MD 6/10, WP 3/10. - 5. Parmar to Chour Military schools for youth offenders .. the Malcolm in the Middle solution. 😂 'Look to the evidence ... selling our kids out' - Shanan Halbert. Chour said that these programs were going to be trauma-informed: I'd like to know more about what that looks like. PP 5/10, KC 4/10. - 6. Genter to Brown Emissions reduction question.

I find Simeon difficult to listen to: he's a shouter. 'Auckland Light Fail' - Simeon, while ducking most of the questions. Brownlee made a ruling at the start that frivolous points of order were to stop, and that saved a few minutes .. this was quite a brisk session. JAG 8/10, SB 4/10. - 7. Arbuckle to Patterson 'This Government intends to bring back NZ wool' - Patterson. Apparently it costs more to shear a sheep than the price that the wool fetches in the marketplace. Gary reckons they should have a guaranteed minimum income for wool farmers, and generally seemed in favour of the idea. 'They never say what they're going to do' - Gary. JA 5/10, MP 5/10. - 8. Jackson to Lee The media industry question; it got quite heated! Lots of passion!! Melissa Lee is waiting on the Select Committee report, which sounds like bullshit. 'The industry is facing difficult issues' - Lee. WJ 7/10, ML 6/10. - 9. Cheung to Brown. Patsy question: Roads of National Significance. Tedious - lots of backbench MPs asking about their rural electorates. 2nd Mt. Vic tunnel is a go ... fuck! National 5/10, SB 6/10. - 10. Shaw to Bishop RMA reform; is there likely to be a judicial review, given that fast-track consenting might ride roughshod over judicial bodies such as the Waitangi Tribunal? Very technical. Worth watching. JS 8/10, CB 6/10. - 11. Butterick to Mitchell Remand prisoners can access rehab, but there's no funding for those rehab programs. Gary had lots of chatter about this: 'he doesn't seem to understand the difference between remand at large and remand on bail.' MB 4/10, MM 5/10. - 12. Tinetti to Seymour School lunches! I felt both sides were cherrypicking evidence on this topic, but I'm hardly an expert on education. David Seymour seemed very confident; I think he's improving as a speaker. 'I'm a helpful sort of a guy' - Seymour. Editorial question: couldn't the food waste then be donated to food banks or to other sectors of the community that are experiencing food poverty? JT 6/10, DS 6/10.