Question Time 27.03.2024

First, a back-of-the-envelope calculation. If I was being surveilled by 2 people that were being paid $30 per hour, it would cost $525,600 to stalk me 24/7 for a whole year. A year on the benefit - for me, who owes MSD $1500 or so - is around $17,000. Talk about punching down! Total David and Goliath stuff. - 1. Hipkins to Luxon Disability issues; Penny Simmonds. 'I found out when it was released in the media' - Luxon. 'Who made the decision?' - Gary. 'The speaker is not the adjudicator of the answers' - Brownlee. CH 6/10, CL 5/10. - 2. Nakhle to Willis. Budget policy statement 2024 .. 'a carbon copy of 1991' - Gary. 'There will be income tax reduction in the Budget' - Willis. 'trickle-down!' - Chloe. RN 5/10, NW 5/10. - 3. Debbie to Luxon Minimum wage is being cut in real terms by not matching inflation. 'A liveable income to support their whānau' - Debbie. 'A moderate, responsible course correction for New Zealand' - Egg-in-chief. 'How much are you paying for your houses?' - Gary. DN 6/10, CL 5/10. - 4. Radhakrishnan to Simmonds. 'She'll have to ask Cabinet if she can answer' - Gary. 'Does the Minister make policy decisions based on hearsay?' - Priyanca. Where is Carmel Sepuloni? She's been absent for over a week according to Gary. 'Will she resign?' - no. PR 7/10, PS 4/10. - 5. Cheung to Reti National Travel Allowance - $18 million boost to New Zealanders who travel overseas for medical treatment. 'Why do they need to leave their country to get medical care?' - Gary. Is it just me, or does National love to put the word 'National' into their policy initiatives? CC 5/10, SR 6/10 - 6. Edmonds to Willis 'Frontline services for disabled people will be a priority' - Willis. Yeah, right. Strong showing from the disability community at Parliament today. Protestors. 'Is she being patronisingly condescending or condescendingly patronising?' - Gary. Also, I think Nicola is using the word paraphrase incorrectly; they're selective quotes that Barbara is making, not paraphrases. 'Working people have done it tough for far too long' - Nicola. BE 6/10, NW 4/10. - 7. McCallum to Brown Brynderwyn Hills - a new road of National Significance. 'Encouraging New Zealanders to support, visit and live in Northland ... this is great progress' - Simeon. 'At least he's not dressed like one of the Village People today' - Gary. Not sure what that was a reference to... GM 6/10, SB 5/10. - 8. Swarbrick to Luxon 'We are deeply committed to meeting our Net Zero Carbon 2050 goals' - Luxon. Chloe was asking why the cuts to MPI included climate change jobs, then Winston asked what a 'climate change job' was. Gary said that Winston was out of order twice today, but Brownlee continues to ignore him. As far as I'm aware, nobody has been expelled from the House in this term. Chloe: are they putting a hiring freeze on the IPCC (The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)? That was what prompted Winston. CS 6/10, CL 5/10. - 9. Belich to Van Velden A sequel to yesterday's questions, plus some extra questions about Gloriavale. The opposition got really stuck into this question, with lots of chatter. CB 6/10, BVV 5/10. - 10. Uffindell to Collins Space sector question. 'She can barely speak because her mouth is so full of Yank jizz!' - Gary. There's some competition that she announced, and suggested that NZ would be launching space vessels in the future. SU 5/10, JC 5/10. - 11. Abel to Jones Seabed minerals = $550 million. 'Is he going to mine the Kermadecs?' - Labour interjection. 'hysteria and alarmism' - Shane Jones on climate change. 'pixie-like hapū in Taranaki' - Matua Shane antangonising Debbie. 'A lippy vandal' - Gary on Shane. SA 7/10, SJ 6/10 - 12. Reuben Davidson to Chris Penk 'on behalf of the Minister...' - this was basically a waste of a question. Cuts to the Ministry of Statistics might affect their ability to track child poverty. RD 6/10, CP 5/10.