Question Time 22.2.23

Good start: smoking changa in the car. 👍 - There was a big disability rights rally near the Seddon statue. They were still there when we left. - This is a weird hobby, but it gets me out of my room and talking to people. - Something I noticed yesterday, but forgot to mention: Jan's new haircut. Very punk. - Question 1: Shaw to Hipkins. A lot of palaver; statements rather than substance. - Question 2: Brooking to Robertson. Still no dollar figure estimate for the Cyclone/flood response. He did say that those funds may alter Government financial policy, so it'll be a big number. - Question 3: Luxon to Hipkins

Hipkins was the comfortable winner. Threw everyone with his one-word answer to the question .. good humour. "hospitals with excrement on the walls" - Question 4: Warren-Clark to Sepuloni. $2.27 million has been committed to NGO's from the relief funds (as of yesterday). - Question 5: Seymour vs. Hipkins. Again, Hipkins did well and Seymour looked foolish. Gary said that Golriz and Julie-Anne were rolling their eyes, but I couldn't see the Greens from my angle. - Question 6: Willis to Robertson. The Government is still working out how to pay for the disaster relief funds. So far, there are no plans for a Cyclone tax, but it wasn't ruled out either. - Question 7: Halbert to Wood. Gary: forestry companies should pay to rebuild bridges due to the silt. - Question 8: Baillie to Minister of Police. There are 145 extra cops on the ground in the Eastern District .. fun piece of jargon: 'reassurance patrols.' Gary: 'the opposition are calling the police liars.' Wood: 'climate of hysteria.' - Question 9: didn't really interest me. - Question 10: Stanford to Tinetti Truancy stats -- The Nats clearly chose this one to heckle .. not interested in the answers, just making noise. Tinetti: 'focusing on the data is a waste of time.' - Question 11: Williams to Andersen Small business solutions for disaster relief: The Auckland small business package = $5 million. The Cyclone Gabrielle fund = $50 million. The Auckland package has begun paying out, and the other one should be from today. - Question 12: Brown to Wood. Light Rail: starting preliminary work tomorrow; main work to commence in 2025. Brown wasn't comparing apples to apples: flooded roads have nothing to do with trains. Also a piece of political grandstanding: Simeon suggested that Light Rail was kept on the agenda as part of a deal where Michael Wood bowed out of the Labour leadership race. The answer was a solid no, but I bet the reporters are probably going to try and get something out of that. 🪶🍃