Question Time 24 June 2025

Line of sight with one of the villains today: the Pink Skull (David Seymour). He wasn't pleased to see me. Did that chin 'piss off' gesture that Italians make. I laughed. Made a point of meeting Tanya's gaze, and she made a point of replying. Acknowledgment of Maurice Gee was unanimously passed. - Ministerial Statement, Iran conflict. Winston: the situation is 'of gravest concern .. NZers are scattered across every part of the world.' He said that we had a long tradition as a solid global citizen that prefers diplomacy to moral outrage. 'We urge all parties to return to talks' - Yep. He's an America supporter, though. Gary was sitting in the Speaker's Gallery, but my neighbour chimed in for him to 'fuck off' while I was observing the deputy PM. 'Iran has a proven pattern of non-compliance' - so does Winston. Chippy: 'These are not defensive actions' - they're air strikes. 'We also welcome the possibility of ceasefire ... principled and courageous stand of defiance in Iraq [yeah, right] ... New Zealand should not drift from their values.' Back and forth with Winston. Largely waffle. Marama: 'a blatant breach of international law'

'We are looking for the condemnation of the US and Israeli air strikes'

'rules-based international order'

'a pathway to peace that is without violence'

Winston: 'proxies of Iran...' - Chloe got a bollocking for interjecting. - 1. Tākuta to Tama TK 6, TP 6 Te Tiriti O Waitangi obligations. Tama plugged Matariki celebrations, while Tākuta said that the Regulatory Standards Bill was doing what the Treaty Principles Bill couldn't and removing Te Tiriti from official regulations. 'I look forward to the submissions ... very committed to upholding Treaty settlements ... unequal citizenship [for Māori]' - Tama. This was the simplest question. 2. Marama to Winston MD - WP - 'A seriously complex situation without the full picture' - Winston. Defended the US, echoing Rumsfeld in a statement that 'emerging evidence' might paint Iran as a nuclear-capable state. Will we stay independent from AUKUS? - A characteristically vague answer, suggesting that the Greens had agreed to explore pillar two in the previous term. I think he's one of Trump's pawns. 3. Chippy to Pink Skull C 4, PS 4 Switched sides so he could answer in peace, but waited a long time. 'The global dairy price has improved' - Skull. Gary was displeased with the lame duck question, and said that Labour should get their act together and avoid giving the acting PM questions. For the technocrats, a 67% approval rating for the cheaper school lunches is a win. Far more important was that 99% were delivered on time (and on budget...). 'We have an opposition that lives in a post-fact environment' - David Seymour. (aka The Pink Skull). 4. Bidois to Nicola DB 4, NW 5 Economics. Yawn! Today's key word was growth: 'positive but subdued growth' - Nicola 'The virtual circle of growth' - David. The opposition found that amusing. 5. Chloe to McClay C 5, TM 3 Hi! $200 million fossil fuel subsidy = breach of sustainability agreements. Six years of negotiations; six months to throw them out. The Natzee said that risks to energy security justified the scheme, and that it wasn't in breach as long as it got the costs down for the consumer. 2.55pm! 'what's the point?' - Chloe's final aside. 6. Brewer to Stanford CB 4, ES 5 Investor plus visa. $10 billion a year? - anecdote presented as 'evidence' 'We are open for business' - the bolt-hole fanatics are back in the picture, with a liberal investing regime that allows high net worth individuals to buy citizenship to work around our ban on selling homes to foreign buyers. Targeting the European market. 7. Edmonds to Willis BE 5, NW 4 Nicola's becoming another irascible scoundrel. She's taken up Winston's habit of digging at the opposition with every final bon mot during the debate. Petrol taxes are fixed for this term. Food and electricity prices are up. 61,000 new families losing money. 'Every NZ family is worse off. That's your record: own it!' - Nicola to the opposition. This was way out of order. Brownlee noted it, but didn't eject her. 8. Weenink to Slimeon VW 5, SB 4 Slimeon's a bit flustered by all the medical jargon. Usually, the health minister is a former physician, but he's a results guy in the National Party. Empty words. 9. Stephenson to McKee TS 4, NM 2 Three Strikes returns into law, even though it's been disproven. 'Do the crime, and they'll do the time' - Nicole. 'The university of prison is the only tertiary institute that they'll invest in' - Gary. 10. Ayesha to Slimeon AV 7, SB 4 More health questions. Natzees use private practice, so that's the market that they're keen to expand. For the Poms: no, we don't have the NHS. ACC is our equivalent, and that stands for Accident Compensation Corporation. If you are paralysed in an accident, you're covered. If you're congenitally paralysed, then you're fucked. We haven't got universal free healthcare, but it's heavily subsidised unless you're over 18 and need dental care. Labour famously trumpeted free prescription fees last term, and that's been undone. 'We believe in competition ... we believe in private enterprise ... most GPs are private practitioners [so we're still delivering for most Kiwis]. 11. Andy to Jonesy AF 5, SJ 4 My brother's gotten the NZ First bug, so they're a bit more matey to me, plus Andy was also the mayor when the band got big. Jonesy said they'd made the 'most profound' improvements in the fisheries sector since 1986. 'To protect the crayfish industry, not the crayfish' - Gary. 12. Ginny to Penny Simmonds GA 6, PS 3 The lefties were pretty rude to Penny, after a meme spread over the way that she shuffled her papers during her replies. Now she's a back bencher. Hana was sporting a stylish brown dress with a black shirt underneath. Nicola took control, eventually pissed off Brownlee and the question was deemed over. - Saw the show from all three angles today. Hadn't done that in a long time. Parliament in a post-truth world. That's today's message.