Question Time 26.03.2024

My rants are probably more perceptive now that I'm in a depressive phase. It was nice to be back; I find my pre-Question Time ritual is very zen. - 1. Chloe to Luxon Family Boost - $75 a week. Pathetic. 'Across housing in New Zealand, we have a supply problem' - Luxon. 'What a load of bollocks ... spot the landlord' - Gary. Chloe's ideas: double the funding of DOC (department of conservation); support climate-related jobs rather than cutting them. CS 6/10, CL 4/10 - 2. Hipkins to Luxon This question is becoming a farce! More opposition-bashing. Was Luxon aware of the cuts to disability funding before they were announced? Well, he avoided the question, so he probably knew. CH 7/10, CL 4/10. - 3. Parmjeet Parmar to Van Velden Brooke was difficult to hear; quite far away from the microphone. Several of these answers became mini-speeches. The Holidays Act is a main priority, with the goal being 'a material improvement on the status quo.' 'Businesses want to keep people healthy and safe at work' - Brooke. 'Are you sure about that?' - Gary. PP 5/10, BVV 4/10. - 4. Costley to Willis ECE question ... reimbursement after payment: a boon for accountants? 'Can't trust their figures' - Gary, who noticed several instances where Luxon or Willis used incorrect information regarding financial quotes. According to Nicola, 37% of household income goes to early childhood care. 'Their only motivation for paying for childcare is to get people into work' - Gary. More points of order! I'm thinking of doing a skit about those. TC 5/10, NW 6/10. - 5. Edmonds to Willis 'There is a strong case for improving the results of frontline services' - Willis. 'Privatisation' - Gary. That became a meme, and many MPs jumped in on that. Good question about how Family Boost will be delivered from Edmonds. $2.8 billion is required to maintain existing services, which might be another financial hole for National. BE 7/10, NW 5/10 - 6. Kirkpatrick to Bishop 30 year National Infrastructure Plan .. 'to demonstrate a pipeline of major projects' - Bishop. A lot of talk about attracting skilled migrants; somewhat surprising from National. 'Privatisation!' - Chloe. 'Fuck that shit' - Gary. DK 5/10, CB 6/10 - 7. Unkovich to Costello Aged care sector. NZ First's primary voter base. 'Good news: old people are smoking more tobacco!' - Gary. TU 5/10, CC 5/10. - 8. Radhakrishnan to Simmonds Complicated question; worth watching. Insulin funding might have been cut in those disability funding decisions. 'shuffle, shuffle' - Gary, on Simmonds' penchant for shuffling her papers as she speaks. PR 6/10, PS 5/10. - 9. Nimon to Stanford. Period products in schools - they kept those for an easy win. 'This Government is committed to reducing barriers to learning' - Stanford. Gary thinks they might have voted against this when it was initially mooted. KM 5/10, ES 6/10. - 10. Marama to Luxon National seemed to miss the point of this question, which was about public housing. Luxon said that they had a three-pronged solution, but mostly mentioned private housing stock. Good job from Marama; very on-point. 'What a typical egg answer' - Gary. MD 7/10, CL 4/10. - 11. Salesa to Lee 22% of New Zealanders belong to ethnic communities. Brownlee was reading the order paper while deliberating... that's a sloppy look. 'Are these cuts a step towards abolishing the Ministry of Ethnic Communities?' - Salesa JS 7/10, ML 4/10. - 12. Wedd to McClay Trade with the Middle East. McClay plans to sort out a trade deal with the UAE. UAE is a top 20 export market for NZ. Apparently, the Gulf is now a priority area for trade, though obviously it's mostly for the shipping routes. CW 5/10, TM 7/10.