Question Time 06.08.2024

This was a pretty slow, boring day. Brownlee made a speech at the beginning about the need to rein in all the various chaotic things that have been happening in the House. 1. Cameron to Seymour MC 5, DS 5 Patsy question for the Minister of Regulation, who accused regulation of 'deadening our culture, as people who try are knocked back by red tape.' An Agriculture and Horticulture review is coming up, as is a Regulatory Standards Bill and a set of initiatives to slash red tape for ECE providers.

2. Hipkins to Prime Omelette CH 6, PO 4 'Teach the basics brilliantly' - Omelette on maths. Those Year 8 results were his main talking point today. Do their reforms apply to charter schools? No. Boot camps - more hot air: 'we are doing everything we can to turn those lives around.' 3. Anderson to Willis MA 5, NW 5 $2.4 billion operating allowance for 2025 ... 'that is a very tight allowance indeed' - Nicola. $1.37 billion is pre-committed, which she spun as being primarily a health spend.

This means there's less than $1 billion remaining. Chloe had a supplementary where she pointed out this was $100 million short of projected requirements, suggesting that there would be more front line service cuts. 4. Avocado Princess to Prime Omelette AP 6, PO 5 Again with the maths! 'There has been system failure' - Omelette

'We are committed to reducing child poverty' - Omelette. 7AA: Chloe asked him to provide an explanation of the law; he declined.

5. Edmonds to Willis BE 7, NW 4 Ferry drama; Nicola said that it 'wasn't in the public interest' for her to comment on the cost of the cancelled ships. Willis guaranteed that the new plan would cost less than iRex, leading to a series of questions as to how that could be. Nicola wasn't all that convincing. Labour seems to be doing quite well with this issue; maybe it might be like KiwiBuild or Three Waters was for National. 6. Unkovich to Jones TU 5, SJ 6 Fuel security. 'Productivity and a reliable economy need easy access to fuel' - Jones. Gas production is down by 20% and Jonesy also raised the spectre of 'ongoing imports of Indonesian coal. Best line of the day: 'The internal combustion engine isn't going anywhere in a hurry' - Shane Jones. 7. Wedd to Stanford CW 5, ES 6 More maths; twice-yearly assessments for Year 3-8. ERO reporting is being overhauled as well. $20 million extra to be spent on teacher training, noting that many teachers lack confidence with teaching maths. Jan Tinetti questioned the data that National was quoting in a supplementary. 8. Prime to Chhour WJP 5, KC 5 7AA repeal - who is for it? 'So she knows better than Māori?' - Carmel Sepuloni, interjecting. Willow-Jean seemed to accuse Karen Chhour of stating different opinions in private and in public, claiming someone had spoken to her and she'd told them that she had doubts about some of the reforms. 'The best interests and safety of the children' - Chhour. That was her line. 9. Debbie to the Omelette DN 6, PO 4

More maths! Confidence in Chhour? Yes. Then Debbie suggested that instead of getting rid of 7AA, they should strengthen section 4A. The Omelette sounded like a racing announcer, clearly unhappy that he was still in the House (the PM usually leaves after the initial questions). 10. Redmayne to Mitchell SR 4, MM 5 A giant plug for beat cops! Everyone loves them, if you're to take Mitchell's word for it. 11. Andersen to Chhour GA 5, KC 5 There's a new action plan on family and sexual violence that is scheduled to be released in the fourth quarter of 2024. There's an overall goal of reducing the number of instances by 2029. Neither side made much headway in the supplementaries. 12. Brewer to Simmonds CB 5, PS 6 Six-week consultation period on the future of polytechs etc. after Te Pūkenga. 'New Zealand needs strong vocational training and educational training systems' - Simmonds.