Question Time 08.08.2024

Sat in the Speaker's Gallery, which had a good view of the National Party. It's my Dad's birthday tomorrow - he died six years ago, shortly after his birthday in 2018. 1. Hamilton to Brown RH 5, SB 6 Lots of patsy questions today, which accounts for the slightly higher scores. Local water done well: entities can borrow up to 500% of revenue in order to 'reduce the financial burden on ratepayers' Lan Pham managed to get in a supplementary after several attempts. 2. Hana to Doocey HMC 7, MD 5 Reviewing an admissions scheme that assists Māori and Pasifika medical students as part of the National-Act coalition agreement. 'They don't want Māori to do well' - Carmel Winnie brought up Pomare today, which is a welcome change from the constant references to Ngata's document about the Treaty of Waitangi. 'A pipeline of representative workforce for all New Zealanders' - Doocey. 'All New Zealanders' -- that's the dog whistle du jour. 3. Edmonds to Brown BE 8, SB 4 'We've got a plan to turn things around' - Simeon. Economy... 'we're not stopping construction' Ferries... 'the ferries are still operating .. safe until at least 2029' Teanau supplementary: 2500 ambulance jobs cut. Simeon was shouting his answers. 4. Weenink to Upston VW 5, LU 4 More Jobseeker bullshit: speaking personally, I don't think that either my case manager or the jobseeking course that I went on did much to improve my chances of getting a job. My CV was polished up a wee bit, but that's about it. Kahurangi Carter supplementary: does she count raising children as work? Upston said 'of course,' but also went on to say that 'we want to see fewer children being raised in benefit-dependent homes.' 5. Jackson to Upston WJ 7, LU 3 I got confused at this point: I thought this was a series of supplementaries because I didn't have the question sheet in front of me. Either way, Willie was onto it. Upston talked of 'a more proactive welfare system' 6. Meager to Penk JM 6, CP 6 Earthquake-prone buildings review. 'This is all about listening to Kiwis' - Penk. Actively consulting for the next few months, then delivering a report in Q1 2025. 7. Tana to Peters DT 7, WP 6 Surprisingly interesting question about marine farm consents. Darleen was very sharp, but so was Winston (even though he was answering on behalf of Shane Jones). Darleen complained about a blanket extension for 1200 marine farms, which Winston spun as 'big city, small-minded complaints' that were preventing wealth generation. 8. Andersen to Chhour GA 5, KC 4 'I instructed Oranga Tamariki to go back to their core purpose' - Chhour. OT reclaimed $22 million from NGO's and other bodies in 2023. 9. Trask to Chhour LT 5, KC 6 Patsy question. Chhour called the current child abuse statistics 'a national disgrace.' KPI's have been established for OT, with new reports every three months. 10. Russell to Simmonds DR 6, PS 5 More on Te Pūkenga. Simmonds defended her statement that it was $250 million in debt, which included over $200 million of inter-company debt. When asked why she included this, she said 'that is real debt' 'Has the Minister been taking mathematics lessons from the Minister of Finance?' - Russell. I couldn't help laughing at that! 11. Kirkpatrick to Bayly DK 5, AB 6 Another plug for local water done well. The Commerce Commission has been given some powers to force water providers to 'invest in the right infrastructure at the right time' ... Phil Twyford said Labour had already set up some of these rules, but I have no idea whether that's true or not. 12. Carter to Chhour KC1 4, KC2 4 Further questions about OT's financing. Honestly, I thought this question was a total snoozer, and risked turning the real issues into a financial abstraction. Maybe that's why Karen disliked my cartoon: it made the abstraction real.