Question Time 07 October 2023

Well, with the anniversary of the attacks, Question Time was an afterthought. The new MPs weren't sworn in today, as Winston made a ministerial statement on his speech at the UN and his decision not to recognise Palestine. I'm saying that it's Winston's call, as the Omelette would've bowed to the pressure. Willow Jean had some friends at Parliament today, in the Speaker's Gallery and then right in Luxon's eye line during the session. Cool! I'm more or less banned from that side of the House. There was a Polynesian group sitting near us. Cook Islands? - Winston's statement: He said that people in Gaza had been 'socialised in an environment of war and hatred.' US-led Peace Plan was 'a first step' 'We have not received criticism from France' Then he demonstrated some of that koro savvy. The flotilla protesters were 'receiving consular support' because NZ had maintained diplomatic ties with Israel. Very clever. Positioning himself as the hard-headed pragmatist. The conflict was described as a 'black hole of irrationality and senselessness' - 'how many bodies lie under the rubble?' - Gary - My curious theory. Why believe it? Hamas agreed to transfer remains of bodies as well. 20 might be an old number. - Peeni: Peeni spoke well. Said that the government needed to show 'moral clarity' 'New Zealanders expect their leaders to have courage ... this government lacks that' 'When leadership fails, humanity takes actions into their own hands' Brownlee forgot that people are able to ask the minister questions, which had been introduced when Hipkins was the PM. From those, we got another answer. NZ wasn't involved in Trump's peace plan, but Winston said that 'we hope it works' - Marama 'Humanise every person who has been lost to violence or lost to genocide' 'Israel must not be rewarded for their genocide' - she suggested Winston was kowtowing to their political pressure. 'Mana motuhake for them [Palestine] ... enduring peace for all' 'Any country that normalises the killing of doctors, workers and journalists ... is dangerous for our mokopuna' - Mark Cameron (Act) 'NZ's decision is the right one ... recognition must depend on democratic means' 'Brutal and abhorrent October 7 attacks' 'Stand against this moral decline, and preserve this wonderful reality' 'It's almost like Palestine occupied Israel' - Gary - Debbie 'We lament for all those families' - Labour were passing their box of lollies around. Undercut the seriousness, but these are all for the camera. 'Children buried under rubble ... we are pretending it's ok, but it's not' 'We have to show our mokopuna and children that we were trying to do something against genocide.' Winston reply: 'the silence is deafening on the question of hypocrisy.' According to Winston Peters, MP, the Indonesian President was very eloquent on the topic of Palestinian statehood. - Simon Court: Jews, apparently, don't want MPs to say 'genocide' for fear that it might incite anti-Semitic violence. Chippy had motioned for a debate, but Brownlee ignored this following the statements.

- 1. Cameron to Van Velden MC 4, BVV 6 Holidays Act changes: 'hours-based accrual ... relatively broad appeal' CTU backs parts of it. Leave payments 'simpler and more predictable' 2. Chippy to Prime Omelette C7, PO 3 Aus vs. NZ brain drain. 'Playing petty politics ... we are very happy to support quarrying, mining and oil and gas exploration' - Prime Omelette. Vacancies vs. jobseekers. Battle of the stats. 'lifetimes on welfare' - PO (Luxon) Teflon mode. Totally on another planet. 'Why should NZers believe anything that the Prime Minister says?' - Chippy 'We are treating Govt. money as if it's our own' - Luxon. 3. Redmayne to Willis SR 5, NW 5 'The road to recovery is not always smooth.' - Nicola. This was a patsy question, but it was surprisingly frank about her failings. Goods exports were down in the third quarter. 'Household spending is going up' - yeah, because the cost of living is! 'When you're not getting the results you want, change the way you measure them' - Gary. It was a very boisterous day, with lots of jokes. 4. Puhihuia to Prime Omelette CS 6, PO 2 Chloe's been pretty average this year, but the Omelette was awful. The coalition have decided that 18 and 19-year-old unemployed people won't be entitled to any assistance if their parents make over $65,000. 'They can't all be P dealers' - Gary. 'We want young people to be dependent upon themselves' - Luxon What about your kids? 'They all have jobs at Air New Zealand that they're underqualified for' - Gary 5. Edmonds to Willis BE 8, NW 3 Low growth ... 'the economy is now recovering' - Nicola. 43% of businesses have no faith in the Nats. 'Spin without substance ... chased headlines and cheap politics' - business leaders that Barbara threw at Nicola. 'I'm on Fonterra's side' - Nicola. 6. Wilson to Peters DW 5, WP 4 Middle East feedback. Cherrypicking. Selective evidence is a problem on both sides of the House. International reputation? 'New Zealand's positions on these issues is well-known and well-understood' Flotilla? 'We told them not to go' Law changes? 'Outlawing intimidatory and harassing behaviour' - Winston. Yeah, tell that to the anti-trans NZ First folk... 7. Rutherford to Goldsmith TR 4, PG 7 Same protest laws. Gary's hypothetical: apartments on Queen Street as an excuse to prevent protests from using Queen Street. Goldie reassured people that it 'will not stop people from demonstrating or expressing their views.' 8. Megan Woods to Simon Watts MW 7, SW 4 Power bills. National has a new energy plan, which is to import coal to supplement the renewables grid, rather than building more renewables storage. 'We have energy supply issues to solve ... the energy system does not have enough backup supply' - Megan, who has a relevant doctorate. 'Restoring investor confidence' - Watts. Well, that's that: National and gentailers, joined at the hip. 9. Debbie to Prime Omelette DN 6, PO 3 Can $65,000 pay for one child, let alone several? 'Get connected to employment, training and work' - Luxon. 'Get a job' - Luxon. That's his only idea. 'Ghost jobs' - Chloe. 10. Bates to Upston CB 4, LU 3 'Independent and successful lives' - Upston's take on the benefit change. 'They're going to create new youth gangs, but they won't be able to see them as they don't have patches' - Gary $1000 bonus if you've been on the dole for one year, then hold a job for one year. Total bullshit. 11. Ginny to Nicola GA 6. NW 4 Answering on behalf of Bish. Infrastructure. Nasty insults. 'I'll take our record over your record any day' - Nicola. 20,000 job losses in construction. 12. Butterick to Penk MB 4, CP 7 Well-spoken, with no insults. Stood out. Doesn't mean I agree. They've saved $8.2 billion by reclassifying the seismic risk of buildings, essentially removing Auckland.