Question Time 22 October 2024

The news cameras were there to pick up a reaction shot of Chlöe when Brownlee read out that Darleen had been fired according to the Electoral Act. Debbie was the only TPM member present today. Winstion: 'he's out of order again, and the Question's haven't even started' - Gary. That's because Chris Bishop began a call to celebrate the athletic achievements of the Black Caps, Team New Zealand (America's Cup), White Ferns, Silver Ferns and the Paddle Ferns (canoe polo). Scott Willis took the call for the Greens and was heckled after bringing up the Ngāti Whatua links to the America's Cup team, which didn't happen when Peeni did likewise for Labour. 'You just have to mention Māori to get those people riled up.' - Gary 1. Chippy to the Prime Omelette C 6, PO 3

Lots of blather. When asked about Andrew Bayly, he said that he was 'disappointed in the Minister's conduct ... he accepts that his behaviour was unacceptable.' Apparently Bayly had visited a brewery prior to harassing the migrant worker, and the PM said that 'I'm not aware of that' ... Gary predicted he'd say that, and also that Winston would be out of order later on in the question (and he was). 'He's good at pushing his women MP's around' - Gary, about the Prime Omelette. 2. Avocado Princess to The Prime Omelette AP 6, PO 3 Luxon used her questions to plug some green Fast Track projects and claim that National was building 'an economy that's raising their [Kiwi's] incomes.' 'The member is in a very dark and conspiratorial mood' - Luxon making a personal attack. Gary said that the government hadn't attacked the opposition in a question today, but I suppose that this counts. Chlöe's getting hazed as the new leader. Lots of personal attacks over the last month... Privatisation? - 'that is not on our agenda' 'Answer a straight question straight' - Chlöe, clearly frustrated. 3. Smith to Willis SS 5, NW 6 'Here comes the smug' - Gary. Discussion of the operating deficit of crown-owned entities (I think that's the right jargon). ACC is responsible for 1/3 of the total deficit, making it the largest of all the groups. 'I think she's about to get through a whole question without attacking the opposition' - Gary. And she did, hence the 6/10. 4. Edmonds to Willis BE 5, NW 4

New ferries. Apparently cancelling when they did added $500 million to the project. Then the questions went on a tangent, with Barbara saying that liquidations are up 19%, alongside a bunch of other factoids that I didn't write down. Bishop brought up the tangential nature of the questions, but I forget what Brownlee said.

5. Nimon to Slimeon KN 5, SB 4

Hawke's Bay Expressway: another Road of National Significance. They're adding four lanes to the motorway, with Slimeon saying that 'motorists are often crawling' in congestion. Gary says that Tory Whanau is running circles around Slimeon in their war over the future of the Wellington Council. According to Gary, this is Slimeon doing Nicola's dirty work, and that's why he's failing. And he says that it's really because she lied during the candidate selection process that Darleen got fired. Said that if she'd told them, then they would've had an answer ready for the media. For example, when Sam Uffindell went through his trial by fire, he'd been clear with National about that particular incident. 6. Arena to Bayly AW 8, AB 2

Arena was onto it today! She had him on the beer gardens question ... he said that he 'was certainly not drunk' rather than that he hadn't been drinking at all. He did clarify that in a supplementary, saying he hadn't consumed any beer, but it seemed a bit rich. Bayly rejected that he said 'fuck off,' but otherwise agreed with the media accounts of the story. 7. Fleming to Goldsmith GF 5, PG 5 Three Strikes law. It's back in -- in NZ, we have this strange thing where we flip-flop on jails and sentencing depending on who's in power. National introduced Three Strikes about 15 years ago, and then Labour repealed it when they came into power. They're seeking public feedback ... 'that's a first' - Chlöe. 'Three Strikes will stop them for longer' - Goldsmith.

8. Ricardo to Erica Stanford RM 6, ES 4 Gary went on a long rant about migrant exploitation and finding work in the regions, saying that 'all of this forces wages down for everyone.' Erica's halved the length of the Migrant Exploitation Protection Visa to six months. She said that six months was 'too long to have a migrant without work' and that they should leave if they can't find a job in that time frame.

9. Debbie to the Prime Omelette D 6 PO 3

My attention was fading by this point. OT: people on roofs -- unsure what that was referring to, and something about people smuggling drugs and alcohol into OT facilities. There's been a new review - the Mike Bush review - into Oranga Tamariki and it has 40 recommendations. Bush is the new Police Commissioner: I was a fan of Andrew Coster, but his politics don't line up with Mark Mitchell's. 1029 people with dependent children had their benefit cut last year. Luxon didn't have much of an answer to that. Will he front up to the hīkoi? 'I'm not sure.' 10. Tinetti to Stanford JT 5, ES 4

Erica's killing all the rural school bus routes, and Tinetti was asking how that was a responsible way to increase attendance. Erica deflected the blame to the Ministry of Education, saying that 'we have a tsunami of bus routes that legally need to be examined,' and that she was following their advice. 11. Redmayne to Grigg SR 5, NG 5

Nicola Grigg, a backbench National MP, answering on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture. She was raring to go, and had a loud, confident voice. She covered a range of issues, including stopping fresh water reforms, clarifications on discharge consents and others She also said the familiar exhortation: 'get Wellington out of farming!'

12. Cameron to McKee MC 4, NM 5

Act patsy question. Act doesn't think that the Three Strikes law is going far enough, and McKee said that 'I've heard from many New Zealanders [that] want more from the government.' Act wants people's old strikes (from the old system) to be applied to the new system, and to increase the penalties for a first strike. 'Locked away from law-obeying New Zealanders for longer' - McKee. 'An overwhelming majority of support' - McKee.