Question Time 07.05.2024

1. Cameron to Hoggard The dairy industry rides again! 'Allow farmers to get back to farming' - Hoggard, who was sporting an eye patch. 'Removing the condition' in some bill or other re: winter grazing. 'More shit in the rivers' - Gary. Damien O'Connor raised the EU Free Trade Agreement in a supplementary; this is generally seen as an obstacle to intensive dairying, as there are climate provisions in that agreement. 2. Chippy to the Prime Omelette The Omelette spruiked the new prison beds and boot camps. 'This is their housing policy' - Gary. Lots of points of order. Winston was out of order, as per usual. The Omelette called certain elements of the $1.9 billion prison spend 'commercially sensitive' ... this was his way of avoiding questions. 'New Zealanders who take MDMA aren't criminals' - Chloe, quoting the Omelette during his 2023 Election campaign. - 3. Redmayne to Willis An OECD report into New Zealand's economy... boring: increased public debt and rising inflation. 'The Budget is entirely consistent with this advice' - Nicola, deftly ignoring the shouts from Chloe about taxes. 4. Marama to the Prime Omelette Marama continued to attack the fast-track legislation: 'His Government is not being transparent or democratic' 7 out of 8 regional councils oppose the Bill. - 5. Bidois to Brown Some classic National Party peacocking by Simeon: 'a financially stable water services plan.' The way he was talking, you'd have thought that he'd saved Auckland from a nuclear bomb or something... 'The rest of us are now subsidising Auckland' - Gary - 6. Edmonds to Willis 'Tax relief in the Budget will be fiscally neutral' - Nicola. Barbara was very good; sharp questions that demonstrated a wealth of knowledge regarding tax laws. - 7. McCallum to Stanford I honestly think that most people in the House tuned out during this question. There was a lot of chatter happening, including in the Press Gallery. Structured literacy... 'good old anecdotes' - Gary. - 8. Debbie to the Prime Omelette More anti-fast track stuff... Debbie's holding a rally at the Railway Station tomorrow. Will he apply diplomatic pressure on Israel? Short answer: no. David Parker caught the Omelette out .. he said that Israel and Hamas were the people that needed to get around the table, rather than Palestine itself. 'words escaping his face' - Gary's take on the Omelette's propensity to waffle on. - 9. Andersen to Mitchell I'd rather not give any airtime to this 'tough on crime' bullshit. - 10. Chloe to the Omelette 'I agree with some of what the OECD says' - The Omelette disagrees with other bits. 'Shares, land and owner-occupied property is tax-favoured' - Chloe, quoting the OECD report. - 11. Meager to Mitchell. So, it looks like it's $1.9 billion into expanding prisons, and $78 million into rehab. That's pathetic. - 12. Mclellan to Mitchell A Labour MP challenging the shambolic press conference from yesterday (I haven't seen that yet). Another question derailed by points of order. The flow is very inconsistent compared to previous Speakers, but I haven't seen a National speaker before, so it's not as if I can judge him on that basis. Scores: MC 5, AH 5 CH 7, PO 4 SR 5, NW 5 MD 6, PO 4 DB 5, SB 6 BE 8, NW 5 GM 5, ES 5 DN 7, PO 4 GA 6, MM 4 CS 5, PO 5 JM 5, MM 4 TM 5, MM 3 Another quip from Gary regarding Mark Mitchell: 'If he was a woman, he'd be out of Cabinet by now'