NZ Elections 2020: What are They saying at Parliament this Week? Tuesday 4

Did you know you can watch Parliament at Parliament TV live or later on-demand.

A Lot of Words

A lot of words and endless discussions about all the topical issues. Social Housing, the COVID Plandemic, Kiwibuild, Tourism subsidies, Finance, Road and Transport Infrastructure, and the increased rights of tenants Bill, to name a few.

Tuesday 4, I watched 8 hours of Parliament today. I found it quite compelling listening believe it or not. Much of the discussion was around COVID security, who should pay and second waves. MP’s and their researchers and advisors present a lot of information in day in the House.

You can find all the information regarding what was discussed, Bills passed etc on the Parliament website. parliament.nz/meetings-of-parliament/#

Question Time best time to visit Parliament

A time each day when Parliament is sitting when MP’s ask each other prepared questions to be answered in front of the public gallery. Question time from 2 -3 pm is lively and interesting as you get to see the personalities of the MP’s and their interactions. The Gallery empties after this and the real debates on specific Bills are discussed in a more orderly way.

Two relevant discussions:

I remember Kiwibuild was huge on promise last elections. Unfortunately little has eventuated in reality. National challenged the Labour Coalition Party that 18,000 people are now on the waiting list for social housing. Because of more and more regulations for landlords from this Labour Government , many landlords are choosing to sell their rental houses. With increased migrants the result, our housing problem has got much worse over the last 3 years.

The distribution of the tourism dollars following lock down has led the opposition party to strongly ask some hard questions. Why were some businesses given millions of dollars and others nothing? Why were some towns and cities given help while others received nothing? I heard the Labour Government struggling to offer many constructive or cohesive answers.

Transcript of some questions asked at Q&A

Housing and KiwiBuild

Questions for the Prime Minister, Jacinta Adern

Hon Judith Collins: When her Government promised to build 16,000 KiwiBuild homes in the first three years of the KiwiBuild programme, then delivered only 452 houses, as at 30 June 2020, was that a failure to deliver?
Hon Judith Collins: Well, then, why, under her Government, has the number of people waiting to go into a State house more than trebled from 5,944 in September 2017 to a whopping 17,982 as at May 2020.
Hon Judith Collins: Is it correct that her Government’s $400 million progressive home ownership scheme has helped not one single person buy a home to date?
Hon Dr Megan Woods: Does the Prime Minister think it is a success story that we will have the first family moving into a home purchased under the progressive home ownership scheme in November of this year? – parliament.nz/hansard-debates

Helping Tourism… or not?

Two ministers discuss…

Hon Todd McClay: (National) Is the Minister aware that the outbound-tourism operators support thousands and thousands of jobs around the country, which are now at risk without direct Government support, and why has he prioritised businesses like AJ Hackett and those 20 workers over travel agents?
Hon KELVIN DAVIS: (Labour) I’m not sure that the member understands that outbound-tourism operators are trying to lure New Zealanders out of New Zealand into overseas markets, when our job is to lure overseas people into New Zealand to support our tourism industry. The fact of the matter, though, is that the borders are closed and there is no inbound or outbound tourism happening at the moment. – parliament.nz/hansard-debates