Chilly wind, but no rain. Looked at the Treaty in the National Library again. When I see our founding document, it gives me hope that my squiggles in my notebook might change the country. Dak updates: Doug pleaded guilty to cultivation (for medical reasons). Gary's notes: he said this to Johnny Blades as well, but he reckons that the Greens should focus on simpler, more direct questions rather than stating a whole bunch of facts as part of the question ... 'let him use his own words to hang himself' 1. Chippy to the Prime Omelette C 8, PO 4
'Our action to crack down on serious offending' - Omelette. Let's crack him instead!
'It is a tough year for New Zealanders' - Omelette. Empty words.
$1.5 billion cut from state houses, while the PM was insisting that he hadn't cut funding from school buildings.
'The crowd noise is tied to the quality of the answers' - Chippy. Good one.
2. Tākuta Ferris to Tama Potaka TK 7, TP 5
This question was almost entirely in Te Reo. Takutai Moana Bill has been shat on by the Waitangi Tribunal. Shane Jones is definitely a fluent speaker. He horned in during another long, tedious point of order. His reo was probably the most easily digestible of the stuff today. 'Ngāpuhi not impressed by Tainui' - Gary. Willow-Jean Prime and Ginny Andersen made interjections in reo. 3. Nancy Lu to Nicola Willis NL 5, NW 4 Family Boost: isn't this just a shittier version of Working For Families? 'This is all about the government not taking responsibility for child care.' - Gary.
4. Edmonds to Willis BE 7, NW 3
58,000 people leaving NZ this year. 1% of the population.
'We are optimistic brighter days are ahead' - Nicola. 'Based on what? vibes?' - Gary.
'We have inherited an extremely poor economic situation' - Nicola. Double-check that quote!
'Answer the question' - Gary said this repeatedly during another long answer. Brownlee was very keen to complain about the length of the answers - it ran 15 minutes long - but wasn't keen to discipline anyone, except for Tākuta, who he threatened to eject during a later question. 5. McCallum to Stanford GM 5, ES 5
Relief teachers... they've offered free teacher registrations to try and encourage old people back into teaching. Gary said the problem was that the qualifications are too stringent, which is definitely true when it comes to itinerant music teachers. In the past, a degree and a certificate in your instrument was enough, but now there's an extra year of teaching qualifications that people are supposed to get. 'There we go: another anecdote' - Gary.
6. Parmjeet Parmar to Brooke Van Velden PP 5, BVV 6 Amending the Employment Relations Act with a 'gateway test' to figure out if somebody is a contractor or an employee. Four criteria: a written agreement that they're a contractor, they're able to work for other companies (including competing companies), they don't have fixed days and they can refuse extra work.
This will 'improve protections for contractors,' according to Brooke. 'What did the union say?' - Gary.
Sounded like they've finally fixed Brooke's mic as well.
7. Andersen to Mitchell GA 7, MM 4
'Yes, Kiwis ought to feel safe' - Mitchell. I think there's a cartoon in that. There's been a big raid on the Comancheros. I think he said that every member of the gang has taken a charge. 17% increase in retail crime. 'Tell us your numbers' - Shanan Halbert. 'We do have ambitious targets on this side of the House ... crime hangover from her government' - Mitchell. 'My maths might not be that flash, but his is worse!' - Ginny. Solid laughs. 8. Garcia to Goldsmith PG1 4, PG2 5
Sentencing reform package. 'They don't seem to put two and two together. Retail crime is up because they've made people poor ... how long until the judiciary decides to advocate?' - Gary.
9. Chloe to the Prime Omelette CS 6, PO 3
Chloe used Te Reo for all her questions. The Omelette answered one question in Reo, then switched to English. This was all about the anti-Māori policies of the coalition. Chloe's reo was alright: well-pronounced, but the prosody was slightly awkward. One of the key things to remember is that Te Reo Māori isn't metrically even, unlike English. The Prime Omelette was in a lot of hot water, with the Pink Skull, Erica Stanford and Winston attempting to bail him out with soft supplementaries. 10. Cheung to Mitchell CC 5, MM 4
More law and order... tuned out during this question.
11. Arena Williams to Bayly AW 7, AB 6
Hi Arena! This was all about Buy Now, Pay Later: one in five New Zealanders forgoes essential payments to service these bills. Some refinements have been made. Bayly said that 95% of customers paid on time, which felt like an odd statistic to spruik given the context.
'The 1% who applied were given full relief' - Bayly. What about all the people that are too scared to apply for a hardship grant? 12. Hūhana Lyndon to Tama Potaka HL 6, TP 4
Whakaata Māori has had a huge funding cut, and might be going online-only. This was entirely in Te Reo, except for a supplementary by Willie Jackson. My taringa was a bit more tuned in by this point, so I caught some of the debate. 'The Government will always support Te Reo Māori' - Tama (in te reo). Tākuta mouthed off about that.
'It's your job, you're the Minister' - Willow-Jean Prime (in te reo).
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