edithatogo/nz-hansard-corpus huggingface dataset:
Lubeck MarjaMARJA LUBECK (Labour): Talofa lava Mr Speaker. I would like to pick up on the theme that the previous speaker Rachel Boyack mentioned in her excellent speech which is the harmful effect on children because of course that is what we are dealing with when we are looking at those delays that can happen in the Family Court. That is exactly what this bill is trying to address. Of course the delays can have negative effects on parents and children including uncertainty and stress. That kind of conflict is never good for any child. It doesn't matter what family they grow up in—and I am very deliberate with my language here Mr O'Connor—whether they grow up in a family that is father and mother father and father mother and mother or any other make-up of the family unit. So it is really important to know that these are actually recommendations made by an independent panel and a new position to be established in the Family Court. I thank everybody who had a part in the legislative process and I commend it to the House. Thank you Mr Speaker.
Boyack RachelRACHEL BOYACK (Labour—Nelson): Thank you Mr Speaker. I'm going to use this opportunity to come back to the bill because this is an important bill. Many of us have experiences of the Family Court. Myself I've given evidence in the Family Court in a matter to do with a friend of mine. Many of us have family members friends workmates and those of us who work as electorate MPs have constituents who come to us.My experience of this issue is that it's a very serious one; a very serious one that has a massive impact on families and on children when we have delays in the court. It was a bit disappointing to hear the previous speech because there are a number of pieces of reform that we are undertaking in the Family Court one of which—which has been recently referenced—is the stopping of people taking vexatious cases in the court. This is something where people have made direct representation to me as their local MP about the combination of delays in the court and people taking vexatious cases. Those things working in conjunction can often lead to massive delays and that has a harmful impact on children and young people in particular.The main thrust of this bill is that we will add capacity through Family Court Associates into the Family Court to ensure that we have the people that we need to hear these cases because it is important that in this particular area of law we do have swift access to justice for those involved. Otherwise we end up with serious situations where children may not see parents for many months where people expend enormous amounts of money on battling through the Family Court often leaving them without access to a home when they go to sell it because they have to repay legal aid fees.This is one of many things we are doing to rectify some of the reforms that National put in place in 2014 that led to huge delays in the court. I'm really proud to be a member of a Government with many many people in this Government who have worked in the system who have researched in the system who have lived experience of this system and who are putting in place the changes that we need to ensure people have access to justice. It's an excellent bill it's a serious bill and I commend it to the House.
Ngobi TerisaTERISA NGOBI (Labour—Ōtaki): Thank you Mr Speaker. Wow sounds like a lot of people need a lot of release and relief tonight after that. But anyway thank you Mr Speaker for allowing me but a short call tonight on the Self-contained Motor Vehicles Legislation Bill and as the final speaker on this bill as well. While I didn't sit on the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee when this bill was first heard in 2022 I do understand that this is an omnibus bill and that it amends two of the Acts: the Freedom Camping Act 2011 and the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Act 2006.My mum and dad's dream was to buy a campervan but my dad's just retired so the likelihood of that is pretty nil unless he wins lotto. But he will hopefully be able to hire a campervan and I might have to talk to the member Dan Rosewarne and see if we can borrow that when we're going over to Christchurch. But anyway their dream is to—like most Kiwis—travel Aotearoa New Zealand to bask in the beauty of our country and to enjoy discovery in our own backyards.Hon Andrew Little: It's to get out of Levin.TERISA NGOBI: Aw I know! Actually you wouldn't want to get out of the Ōtaki electorate because it is beautiful and we have a lot of tourists here but they want to see the rest of beautiful Aotearoa as well. However they don't want to be basking in the sun with the smell and the sight of bodily fluids by irresponsible campers or freedom campers.This bill requires vehicle-based freedom campers to have a fixed wharepaku or toilet. And we are all responsible: whether you're a visitor to Aotearoa New Zealand or whether you live here and you want to see the sights like my parents we are all responsible to be good kaitiaki or good caretakers of this land. And that should be an expectation whether you're coming over here or whether you live here and you want to go like I said like my parents and you want to go and have a look around. This bill supports that. This bill makes sure that there are provisions for people to be able to make those really good choices: having a toilet or I heard earlier the member Naisi Chen talk about there are some places for about $30 where you can park up and use the toilet facilities there. There's no need to be dumping in the bushes. There's no need to be using our beautiful country as your personal toilet.This is about keeping up our clean green—keeping New Zealand beautiful—image. This is about looking after Papatūānuku and as I said we are all responsible for that. I don't understand how you can be opposed to that actually—wanting to make sure that we look after Aotearoa New Zealand. And for that I commend this bill to the House.
Rosewarne DanDAN ROSEWARNE (Labour): Kia ora thank you Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure to speak on the Self-contained Motor Vehicles Legislation Bill. I want to thank the Hon Peeni Henare who originally brought this bill before the House and also the members of the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee.Hitting the road in a camper is a Kiwi pastime. Unfortunately some people do not treat our environment as well as others. Protecting our environment our natural spaces adds to our clean green environment. I've done a bit of camping. I had a camper for a while six berth and it was self-contained.Glen Bennett: Six berth?DAN ROSEWARNE: Yeah it's fantastic. The way I used to run it was: it was my 10-year-old son who would empty the chemicals out of the toilet and do all that stuff. You know you have to make sure you're in bare feet and stand in a certain way when you emptied it or else you get the speckles and things like that. You also make sure that you had a spare lid because you don't want to lose the lid on Boxing Day when everything is closed so you've got to make sure that you've got a spare one there so that when you go to empty it or you lose it down the hole it's all ready to go.These things are a small price to pay to make sure that our environment is clean. The last thing that we want is people not using their toilets in a safe manner. So we're addressing this by giving more power to local councils and creating new standards for freedom campers so that they can use self-contained vehicles. It's for that reason that I commend this bill to the House.
Coffey TāmatiTĀMATI COFFEY (Labour): I'm going to send that member who just resumed his seat Sam Uffindell an article from 2017 which talked about how desperate the situation was for freedom campers in Tauranga.Hon Todd McClay: In 2017!TĀMATI COFFEY: Oh but the thing is that the law hasn't changed. So actually the problem still exists. The member is tone deaf to the people of Tauranga who understand that this is a problem and are trying to find their way out of it.The headline for that story back there is Freedom campers out of control in Tauranga"—out of control in Tauranga. The member has no idea. The member is playing opposition for opposition's sake and actually saying that he opposes this bill yet the constituents of Tauranga know that at the Omanu carpark people park up and many of them don't have facilities in their vans. And so what they do is they just take a little dump in the bushes they leave some toilet paper in there and it ruins and erodes the social licence that freedom campers all across New Zealand hope that they can continue to enjoy.This bill the Self-contained Motor Vehicles Legislation Bill is a good piece of legislation. I see the member for Rotorua over there Todd McClay. He knows just as much as anybody else the problems that we have with freedom campers in Rotorua. He sits there and he shakes his head but we all know that we are filled around our city around our beautiful lake with lots of freedom campers that choose to take a little dump in the bushes because there's not enough legislation helping local councils out to be able to solve this problem.This legislation gives local councils the ability to solve that problem. It sends a message to local councils that this Labour Government is listening to them and better than that it sets a minimum standard for all of those international tourists that come into the country that want to travel around our beautiful country—and please can they? Let them travel but let them also take a toilet with them. If that means that we're going to have to change our mind-set from what we've currently enjoyed which is the good old hippies jumping in the car doing the roadie then actually let us change that. If we want to uphold our clean green image that people from all around the world come to experience then let it be so. I completely support this bill Mr Speaker."
Roberts Angela; O'Connor GregANGELA ROBERTS (Labour): Kia ora Mr Speaker. Talofa lava. It is a pleasure to rise and take a call on the Self-contained Motor Vehicles Legislation Bill. As somebody who was involved in the tourism industry when I first came back from my OE and was working at the New Plymouth District Council advising people on the wonderful wonderful Te Papakura o Taranaki—I never get sick of saying that old name great name for our beautiful national park that I had the privilege to live under when we'd be giving people advice because we've heard a lot from people about how responsible most of our visitors to this country and our visitors from around New Zealand are when they come to Taranaki.What this bill does is it just makes local government more able to support our visitors to get it right right? We heard the concerns that actually maybe all we need to do is just build more loos. Well funnily enough we have and we continue to do so. We've got fabulous new loos in Mokau by the way just if you're on your way down to Taranaki from up North. So you're right we do need to provide better facilities and we are providing better facilities. But this is actually about making sure that our local government who know our precious places—and they know the pressure points—are better enabled to get it right. It doesn't matter if we're up the end of York Road or Lucy's Gully or Maude Road little places where people want to go and enjoy the very quietist back country in New Zealand; we just want to make sure that they really are considerate. This legislation sends a really strong signal that you can enjoy our back country you can tread lightly and you can also leave no loo paper in places where you shouldn't. Because of that I commend this bill to the House.DEPUTY SPEAKER: This is a split call. Five minutes—Sam Uffindell.
Menéndez March RicardoRICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green): A pleasure to rise on behalf of the Greens to speak on the Self-contained Motor Vehicles Legislation Bill. Putting aside the earlier speeches I did want to commend the Minister of Tourism actually for having worked in good faith to address some of the concerns that came about during select committee and that were highlighted in our first reading of this bill regarding this bill's potential targeting of homeless people. So we do want to welcome the fact that during the committee of the whole House stage this has been addressed and an acknowledgment that homeless people do not choose to be homeless and therefore the bill should avoid targeting homeless people in the first place. But we also wanted to highlight that unfortunately as a whole what this bill does is—and I think I want to draw from the former Minister Stuart Nash who spoke during the first reading—more about the so-called high-value tourism rather than working towards shifting away from the endless growth of the industry of the sector that we were seeing particularly prior to the border closure as a result of COVID-19. We had an opportunity to actually re-imagine what our tourism industry could look like. Yes like the speaker to my right—and I feel kind of awkward quoting them but yes addressing things like our infrastructure shortage that has meant that many people participating in domestic tourism particularly do not have the infrastructure available them which requires them to effectively fork out more money to upgrade their vehicles within potentially quite restrictive parameters as to fixed toilets. It risks gentrifying the tourism industry without addressing some of those core deficits that exist that prevent people from engaging in responsible camping which is actually the goal that we were working towards between 2017 and 2020. I think that framework puts sustainability in a much more paramount way as opposed to this kind of idea that I alluded to earlier around high-value tourism. The risk of this bill entrenching this strategy of high-value tourism is that it assumes that so-called high-value tourism immediately is greener because it often brings in kind of wealthier tourists and it's not necessarily the case. I think what this bill is moving towards is this idea that we want to attract wealthier tourists and they'll participate in greener tourism. Some of those are really emissions-intensive activities.Our concerns that we raised at first reading for the most part except the homelessness provisions which we addressed and thank the Minister for remain in terms of the sort of narrow scope of the bill the sort of disjointed approach in terms of all the land that tourism kind of participates in. So we encourage the Government to instead completely reimagine the tourism industry to put sustainability as a pinnacle of it as opposed to endless growth and move towards the approach that was being worked on in 2017 2020 around responsible camping. So the Green Party won't be supporting this bill at third reading.
Bennett GlenGLEN BENNETT (Labour—New Plymouth): Kia ora Mr Speaker. It's been so interesting this evening to be listening to the rhetoric and the lack of information coming from the other side of the House this evening. The previous two speakers from the National Party—neither has spent any time whatsoever on the select committee delving into digging deep into this piece of legislation. I am grateful and glad to have been a member of the committee which has seen this piece of legislation right through its process.When we looked at this and we talked about as Mr Simeon Brown was just saying that the Government comes along and just wants to add costs and bureaucracy—blah blah blah—actually the Government comes along because councils have been asking and crying out for this. Councils have been coming along saying We need regulations to support us." My council the New Plymouth District Council and the Waiwhakaiho River which is a significant river in our city—there were faeces in the bushes there was rubbish scattered around there were fires lit in this sacred space. That actually is wrong and is disgusting and does not represent our clean green 100% Pure New Zealand image. That's why we have this legislation on the table that's why we plan to pass it this evening that's why we've worked so hard with councils with motorhome associations.I want to acknowledge our officials who have worked hard and long on getting this legislation right on not only listening to us as members of Parliament but listening to the 790 written submissions 66 oral submissions the to-ing and fro-ing and the constructive process which was made on all sides of the House to get this legislation right. This is good legislation.Sam Uffindell: You rushed it.GLEN BENNETT: This is not rushed; this has gone through the usual process of Parliament. That's why I am commending this bill to the House."
Chen NaisiNAISI CHEN (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. Every time I speak on this Self-contained Motor Vehicles Legislation Bill I just always want to make sure that I start off with a definition of what this bill is trying to do. So first of all what is freedom camping? The bill defines freedom camping as staying in a vehicle or tent within 200 metres of a place where you can drive the coast or a Great Walks Track." Now this is the point that I really want to drive home—pun intended—to a lot of our freedom campers and especially a lot of our submitters to the select committee: it does not include camping on private land back-country areas or where payment is required for the site. Once again there has been a lot of misinformation to do with this bill.The fact that our Government is making sure that there are fixed toilets and a responsible attitude towards making sure that our nature here in New Zealand gets preserved to that pristine 100% Pure New Zealand is of the utmost importance especially as we start to open our doors up to the rest of the world especially as we get ready for the FIFA Women's World Cup this year.We're making sure that there are places not only for you to freedom camp so that your toilets are fixed to the vehicle but also we've put in $25 million—this is annually so we've done that for a couple of years now—into the Tourism Infrastructure Fund (TIF) making sure that our local government actually has the funding to put in place places that we can camp. It's not even freedom camping; it's campsites where you pay a very small amount of fee—with TIF maybe that fee will get lowered even more—around the $30 benchmark to make sure that you have a place where you can park your vehicle go in and use the toilets and the shower amenities and not related to this bill but maybe even there will be kitchens where you can cook a hot meal where you can go in and meet other campers like-minded people make some friends have a great time and still look after the planet. That is why I commend this bill to the House."
Craig LizDr LIZ CRAIG (Labour): Talofa lava Madam Speaker. Listening to the previous speaker Penny Simmonds I just want to reflect on some of the things that I learnt in my previous role monitoring child health.What I learnt is that our country's child poverty rates weren't the result of a single policy. What they were result of is a whole series of policies over time that undermined family incomes. Things like National's 1991 benefit cuts them selling off our State houses their failure to adequately lift the minimum wage. Similarly reversing this requires a series of policies. In this respect I'm really proud of the work that our Government's done to lift family incomes. Things like the Best Start payment winter energy payment increasing benefits and reinstating the Training Incentive Allowance.This bill is a further step in this direction because what it does is it removes a discriminatory policy that withholds child support payments only from sole parents receiving a benefit. So what it means is they can be passed on as already happens for other parents that are on a benefit. So once implemented it's estimated around 41550 sole parent families will be better off by a median gain of $20 per week which is really significant.And I'd like to just thank all those who took the time to make a submission. The vast majority did support this bill although some were concerned that we didn't want to inadvertently create extra benefit debt. But we were reassured that the way the income-charging rules for child support payments had been designed would aim to prevent that. So this is just a really important bill and it will lift thousands of children out of poverty. I'm really happy to commend it to the House.Motion agreed to.Bill read a second time.
Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Bill — Second Reading
Pallett SarahSARAH PALLETT (Labour—Ilam): Thank you Madam Speaker. This has been an extremely interesting debate listening to it as I am from my position of not being part of the Social Services and Community Committee who have done such fantastic work on it. I'm just incredibly interested by hearing some of the views being expressed about—and this isn't the first time this evening; this is an ongoing conversation where the rhetoric that I hear sometimes from the Opposition is in complete conflict with my understanding of humanity. It's in complete conflict with my lived experience of working with people who come from various different walks of life some of whom may be on the benefit some of whom may be solo parents. It's incredibly easy to other people; it's incredibly easy to other solo parents. If you are fortunate enough to be in a relationship that is stable and solid and without flaw good on you. It's not my experience that all fathers act responsibly with regard to the care and support—especially financial support—of their children once that relationship has ended.I'm just going to share a little case study with you. Imagine if you will a middle-class woman escaping an abusive relationship. The father declines to pay child support as a form of financial control. Listening to some of the speakers here you would think that that never happened. You would think that men did not use money—and I'm sure women too but here most of the people we're talking about are solo mums. You would think that men never used money as a way to continue to control the women in their lives—their ex-partners—and their children. It's unfortunately the case though. When I saw this Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Bill come before me what I saw was a way to start to address some of the inequities caused as a result of some behaviour by people as a result of maybe being reluctant to pay because they were reluctant to give Inland Revenue money rather than their children even if they choose to pay.I commend this bill to the House and I really hope that it does as it says—raise 14000 more children out of poverty. Thank you.
Ngobi Terisa; Dean JacquiTERISA NGOBI (Labour—Ōtaki): Fa'afetai tele Madam Speaker. And happy vaiaso ol e Gagana Samoa—happy Samoan Language Week Madam Speaker.This the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Bill continues this Government's work to make the welfare system in Aotearoa New Zealand fairer and ensure that Kiwis live with dignity. That includes people who are on benefits that includes sole parents and that includes kids. Every Kiwi should live with dignity.This bill does that by removing the discriminatory policy—and it is discriminatory—that has withheld child support payments from sole parent beneficiaries. This bill fixes that inequality by passing on the child support administered by IRD directly to the sole parent beneficiaries just like it currently does for other parents receiving child support. It will still be income-tested as well.In a nutshell this is about fairness. It shouldn't matter whether you're a sole parent on a benefit or a sole parent that has work: you're a sole parent looking after a child and the other parent is liable to help you pay for that child and you should be receiving that money so you can support your child. It's as simple as that. I don't understand how others across the House can see it any different. That child deserves the money that's coming from that child support payment and that's it in a nutshell. This is about supporting all New Zealanders and this is about supporting the children.As a previous case manager—and also working in the social sector for decades in the Ōtaki electorate—I know the difference that on average $20 is going to make to a household. These people aren't just evidence and stats and numbers in a piece of report. These people have names that came to my desk. These people—sole parents that were desperate that hadn't eaten for three days but they made sure their kids ate and they were so stretched that they were asking for food packages or whatever they needed—that $20 is a game-changer to them.Why shouldn't they get the same amount as anyone else? It shouldn't matter that they're on a benefit. This is a game-changer this is a no-brainer and this needs to happen. I commend this bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Simon O'Connor—five-minute call.
Henderson EmilyDr EMILY HENDERSON (Labour—Whangārei): E te Māngai o te Whare. I stand to try to give a little bit of dignity back to those whose dignity has been impugned by the opposite member. Pani me te rawakore—this is about those who need it most getting what is owed to them. I find it extraordinary that the only exception for so many years to whānau who would be able to be eligible for the pass on from the other parent who was not doing the majority of the caring the only people who were not receiving that was solo parents. And of course when we are talking about that we are talking about solo mums.This bill rectifies an injustice that has been standing since 1991. I have just been speaking to my colleague here Lemauga who told me that she was in fact on the first working party that worked to put child support together. She talked about the difficulties of that. Pani me te rawakore—this is about those who need it most.Do not lecture us about the needs for people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Do not lecture us about that when we are trying to give those people what has been due to them since 1990. And that is the point of this bill. Do not lecture us about fairness when you've failed to deliver for so many years. Do not lecture us about respect when we try to give it. I honour Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni who has had the guts to give dignity back to solo parents and solo mothers. I honour those 14000 children who will be raised out of poverty and those 141550 solo parents who will benefit from this bill. I commend it to the House.
Warren-Clark AngieANGIE WARREN-CLARK (Labour): Talofa lava Madam Speaker. Look I'm really delighted to speak on the Child Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment Bill. It is a bill that has moved very quickly through the select committee process. Nevertheless I want to acknowledge the 13 submitters who submitted and the six who gave oral submissions. They added to the bill remarkably and I thank them for that. I also want to thank the officials who very diligently worked incredibly hard to get this bill to the state that it is in including the changes that we had suggested. One of the things that I have to say about this piece of legislation is that I love it—I love the fact that it's a piece of equity in action. I've heard the speech from Louise Upston the previous speaker in which she talked about How is it that we do this and it creates these things and people might suddenly want to come jump on the benefit because actually they're getting some payments which they're entitled to."—which every other beneficiary gets. So if you're one of a couple in a relationship and you're entitled to child support that child support payment is passed on to you and you get it—you receive it. So this is what this bill does: it actually enables those sole parents those single parents to get the same as everyone else and I think that that's really important. It doesn't suddenly mean that they are going to be incredibly wealthy but people are certainly going to be slightly better off by approximately $20 a week and that is a help. But the main thing for me is this equity—this equity that we talk about that actually enables our families to get what they're entitled to. What was the purpose? We don't know. What was the purpose in punishing sole parents or treating them differently? There actually really wasn't a reason except to say that "We think that maybe these sole parents deserve less rights and maybe they needed to be punished."—and that's what we're getting rid of. In fact it is one of the things that I absolutely love about this work that we do: it's changing the inequities. It's a really modernised taxation system that is going to enable this to work and that is one of the reasons that it has taken so long to get this piece of legislation here. It is a modernised system—automated—and that is an amazing thing for our community. They're not going to have to ring in because this will be done behind the scenes. I'm delighted and I commend this bill to the House."
Rurawhe AdrianPETITIONS PAPERS SELECT COMMITTEE REPORTS AND INTRODUCTION OF BILLSSPEAKER: A petition has been delivered to the Clerk for presentation.CLERK: Petition of Responsible Campers Association Incorporated requesting that the House provide better access to camping facilities including toilets and kitchens and invest in technology to prevent overcrowding in camp sites.SPEAKER: That petition stands referred to the Petitions Committee. Ministers have delivered papers.CLERK:2021/22 annual reports ofDrug Free Sport New ZealandTe Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori—Māori Language CommissionGovernment responses to thereport of the Petitions Committee on the Breast Cancer Foundation New Zealand: Restore and extend screening for breast cancerreport of the Regulations Review Committee on its Briefing on best practice for publication of secondary legislation2023 Long-term Insights BriefingsPreparing all young people for satisfying and rewarding working livesLet's talk about our national security.SPEAKER: Those papers are published under the authority of the House. Select committee reports have been delivered for presentation.CLERK:Reports of the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee on the2021/22 annual review of the Health Research Council of New ZealandCrown Minerals Amendment Billreport of the Governance and Administration Committee on theLocal Government Official Information and Meetings Amendment Billreports of the Justice Committee on theDeclaration of inconsistency: Voting age in the Electoral Act 1993 and the Local Electoral Act 2001Legal Services Amendment Billpetition of Make It 16: Lower the voting age to 16report of the Primary Production Committee on thepetition of Cobie Curtis: Ban the use of whips in horse racingreports of the Social Services and Community Committee on theChild Support (Pass On) Acts Amendment BillMinistry for Culture and Heritage Long-term Insights Briefing 2022petition of Save the Children New Zealand: Retain the role of a named Children's Commissioner.SPEAKER: The bills are set down for second reading. The briefing and the report on the declaration of inconsistency are set down for consideration. No bills have been introduced.
Obituary — Her Royal Highness Princess Mele Siu'ilikutapu Kalaniuvalu Fotofili
Edmonds BarbaraOBITUARIESHer Royal Highness Princess Mele Siu'ilikutapu Kalaniuvalu FotofiliHon BARBARA EDMONDS (Minister for Pacific Peoples): I seek leave to move a motion without debate to mark the passing of Her Royal Highness Princess Siu'ilikutapu of Tonga.SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that course of action being followed? There is none.Hon BARBARA EDMONDS: Oku tō e pulonga he fonuá Fale 'o Tupou mo e kāinga Tonga kotoa.I move That this House express its condolences to the people of Tonga and to His Majesty King Tupou VI on the passing of Her Royal Highness Princess Mele Siu'ilikutapu Kalaniuvalu Fotofili note that she was a formidable leader and a proud advocate for women and that she played an instrumental role in the Government's apology for the 1970s Dawn Raids and courageously fought for causes that were important to both her people and the wider Pacific such as the preservation of the Tongan language.Ofa ke kei toka lingolingoa 'ene kelesí he Fale 'o Tupou VI Tu'i Pelehake mo e Kauhala 'Uta mo e Tonga kotoa.Motion agreed to.
Privilege — Oral Questions—Correction of Supplementary Answer
Rurawhe AdrianPRIVILEGEOral Questions—Correction of Supplementary AnswerSPEAKER: Members a matter of privilege has been raised with me alleging that the Hon Jan Tinetti deliberately misled the House by failing to correct a misleading statement at the earliest opportunity. In a supplementary question on 22 February 2023 the Minister was asked to categorically state that she played no part in the delay of release of school attendance information. The Minister replied that she already had and that it was a decision for the Ministry of Education. The Minister corrected this answer on 2 May stating I subsequently became aware that my office did have input into the timing of the release of the data through email correspondence with officials at the Ministry of Education."The Minister has stated that she was informed by her staff after question time on 22 February of her staff's correspondence with the ministry on the release of data. She has also stated that she did not know that her answer needed to be corrected until she received a letter from me on 1 May after which she corrected it. It is an important principle that the House can trust the accuracy of ministerial replies to parliamentary questions. While mistakes are sometimes made which can result in the House receiving an answer containing a misleading statement it is vitally important that as soon as this is discovered the Minister returns to the House to correct their answer at the earliest opportunity.I have considered the matter raised and considered its degree of importance. It is for the Privileges Committee to determine whether the delay in correcting an inaccurate statement in this instance amounts to contempt. I rule that a question of privilege does arise from the time taken to correct a misleading statement to the House. The question therefore stands referred to the Privileges Committee."
Rurawhe Adrian; Sosene Lemauga LydiaTUESDAY 30 MAY 2023The Speaker took the Chair at 2 p.m.KARAKIA/PRAYERSSPEAKER: Members in celebration of Samoan Language Week I have asked Lemauga Lydia Sosene to say the prayer in the Samoan language.LEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE (Labour): Tatou ifo ma tatalo. Le Atua Silisili ese e matou te sulaina lau Afio mo fa'amanuiaga ma tofi ua e fa'au'uina ai i matou. E lafoa'i ni o matou lagona ma manatua ta'ito'atasi i le amana'iaina o le Masiofo o Peretania. Matou te tatalo ina ia tonu ma fa'amaoni fuafuaga ma fa'ai'uga uma i totonu o lenei Maota Fono. Ia talosia ta'ita'i o lenei Mālō ina ia maua le tōfā mamao le fa'apalepale ma le agamalū auā le manuia ma le filemū o Niu Sila. O le matou tatalo lea e ala atu i le suafa pele o Iesu Keriso Amene.[Almighty God we give thanks for the blessings which have been bestowed on us. Laying aside all personal interests we acknowledge the King and pray for guidance in our deliberations that we may conduct the affairs of this House with wisdom and humility for the welfare peace and compassion of New Zealand. Amen.]
Thursday 18 May 2023 (continued on Friday 19 May 2023) - Volume 768
Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Bill — Instruction to Justice Committee
VoteA party vote was called for on the question That the motion be agreed to.Ayes 62New Zealand Labour 62.Noes 53New Zealand National 34; ACT New Zealand 9; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 9; Kerekere.Motion agreed to.Bill referred to the Justice Committee.
Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Bill — First Reading
VoteA party vote was called for on the question That the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Bill be now read a first time.Ayes 105New Zealand Labour 62; New Zealand National 34; ACT New Zealand 9.Noes 13Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 9; Te Paati Māori 2; Kerekere; Whaitiri.Motion agreed to.Bill read a first time.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is That the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Bill be considered by the Justice Committee.Motion agreed to.Bill referred to the Justice Committee.
Taxation Principles Reporting Bill — Instruction to Finance and Expenditure Committee
VoteA party vote was called for on the question That the motion be amended by writing so that the 27 July date is replaced with 1 September 2023.Ayes 43New Zealand National 34; ACT New Zealand 9.Noes 72New Zealand Labour 62; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 9; Kerekere.Amendment not agreed to.A party vote was called for on the question That the Taxation Principles Reporting Bill be reported to the House by 27 July 2023 and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting (except during oral questions) during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 193 195 and 196.Ayes 72New Zealand Labour 62; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 9; Kerekere.Noes 43New Zealand National 34; ACT New Zealand 9.Motion agreed to.
VoteA party vote was called for on the question That the Taxation Principles Reporting Bill be now read a first time.Ayes 75New Zealand Labour 62; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 9; Te Paati Māori 2; Kerekere; Whaitiri.Noes 43New Zealand National 34; ACT New Zealand 9.Motion agreed to.Bill read a first time.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The question is That the Taxation Principles Reporting Bill be considered by the Finance and Expenditure Committee.Motion agreed to.Bill referred to the Finance and Expenditure Committee.
Taxation Principles Reporting Bill — First Reading
VoteA party vote was called for on the question That the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023-24 Multinational Tax and Remedial Matters) Bill be now read a first time.Ayes 75New Zealand Labour 62; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 9; Te Paati Māori 2; Kerekere; Whaitiri.Noes 43New Zealand National 34; ACT New Zealand 9.Motion agreed to.Bill read a first time.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is That the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023-24 Multinational Tax and Remedial Matters) Bill be considered by the Finance and Expenditure Committee.Motion agreed to.Bill referred to the Finance and Expenditure Committee.
Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023-24 Multinational Tax and Remedial Matters) Bill — First Reading
VoteA party vote was called for on the question That the Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment Bill be now read a third time.Ayes 115New Zealand Labour 62; New Zealand National 34; ACT New Zealand 9; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 9; Kerekere.Noes 3Te Paati Māori 2; Whaitiri.Motion agreed to.Bill read a third time.
Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment Bill — Third Reading (continued)
Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment Bill — In Committee
VoteA party vote was called for on the question That clauses 1 to 4 be agreed to.Ayes 115New Zealand Labour 62; New Zealand National 34; ACT New Zealand 9; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 9; Kerekere.Noes 3Te Paati Māori 2; Whaitiri.Clauses 1 to 4 agreed to.Bill to be reported without amendment.
VoteA party vote was called for on the question That the Energy (Fuels Levies and References) Amendment Bill be now read a first time.Ayes 115New Zealand Labour 62; New Zealand National 34; ACT New Zealand 9; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 9; Kerekere.Noes 3Te Paati Māori 2; Whaitiri.Motion agreed to.Bill read a first time.
Dean JacquiASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Members that is urgency concluded. Before I adjourn the House I just want to pass on the House's thanks to the Hansard team; the Chamber staff who have looked after us so well; the Office of the Clerk; and the Office of the Speaker all of whom have been working very hard behind the scenes to support the work of this House. The House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. next sitting day.The House adjourned at 3.41 p.m. (Friday)
O'Connor SimonSIMON O'CONNOR (National—Tāmaki): I'm not going to take a long call but I do want to put out National's reservations that once again we're seeing truncated legislation. I think the Minister himself has articulated why we need more time. This is not so much a complex but a complicated piece of legislation. The Minister has noted a number of the reservations that are being put forward by members of the House and I'm pleased he's heard that. And even though I sit on the Justice Committee and without sounding vainglorious we're a pretty smart bunch of cookies it's still not enough time for us to property consider the bill. I think it's also not enough time for the public to understand that this law is going through and to submit. And let's be very very clear—a good chunk of that time is the recess of Parliament and I think it's really important for people at home to understand that the recess doesn't mean that the parliamentarians are having a break. We're actually back in our electorates working and engaging with the community and now we have to push that to the side in order to rush this piece of legislation through.This legislation is impacting not only on operational police work. It does have justice issues: whose vehicle whose ownership whose consequence should be paid? These need to be properly considered and unfortunately we have a bit of form coming from this Government of rushing things through and then getting it wrong. In the social development and welfare space a number of times we've had to come back to amend amendment bills—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! Bring it back.SIMON O'CONNOR:—because we've made mistakes or rather this House or Government.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): No. This is a very narrow debate. The member is to address only the question that has been put.SIMON O'CONNOR: My concern remains that with this land transport bill if we do not have sufficient time for the select committee we are going to find errors which means that we're just going to cause more trouble. So I would ask the House to oppose this motion. I take on board what the Minister says and I don't think anyone disagrees that we want to see any law that's going to increase the safety of the country move through and be on the books but we should not do it at the cost of getting the bill right. So I just want to put that on the record and assure the House that if the Government uses its majority to push this through those of us on the Opposition side certainly in the National Party will do our best to address the shortcomings.
Little Andrew; Dean JacquiInstruction to Justice CommitteeHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Defence) on behalf of the Associate Minister of Transport: I move That the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Bill be reported to the House by 20 July 2023 and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting (except during oral questions) during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 193 195 and 196.The reason for the truncated consideration by the select committee is because this legislation is aligning with the work of the police; they are amending their fleeing driver policy it takes effect a little later this year. No one in this House whether the Minister or members opposite get to instruct the Commissioner of Police on their utilisation of resources or the policies they use to enforce the law. What we can do however is make sure that with the power of Parliament there are complementary laws that assist the police in achieving their objective of effective law enforcement. When it comes to fleeing drivers in the first reading of the bill there's been a good indication about where there are points that the House wishes to consider. Members of the National Party want it both to be harsher—except if you're Chris Penk who wants there to be some sort of proper respect for New Zealand Bill of Rights Act considerations. The Green Party is considerably opposed to it. The ACT Party even raised issues about the innocent vehicle owners even if those innocent vehicle owners are obstructers of police inquiries and who are fleeing drivers.There are some issues to consider and there's an effective time for the select committee to do that but it is important that this law gets in place so it fully and properly complements the work of the police when they implement their new policy on fleeing drivers. On that basis I have made this motion to the House to truncate the select committee process.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is that the motion be agreed to.
Boyack RachelRACHEL BOYACK (Labour—Nelson): Thank you Madam Speaker. Kōrero mai kōrero atu mauri tū mauri ora. Like my colleague Shanan Halbert I also want to acknowledge colleagues across the House who have been supporting Pink Shirt Day today and standing up for diversity and against bullying.It's a pleasure to take the last call on the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Bill. Many people have traversed the details of the bill and I want to finish the speeches on this bill today by going back to the heart of what this bill is about which is the goal I believe of all MPs: to reduce the number of fatal and serious-harm car crashes in Aotearoa. We need to take all the steps that we can to do that. I'm certain that every MP in this House has members of their family and friends and acquaintances who they know who have been killed or seriously harmed in a vehicle incident.When it comes to the issue of speeding and fleeing drivers in my own electorate I just want to acknowledge the devastating crash as a result of a fleeing driver in 2018 that killed an innocent Nelson woman and also acknowledge another crash in my electorate that was devastating where we lost a young woman I knew with a very bright future: Christine Kelly. She lost her life due to a driver travelling at a speed of 98 kilometres and with alcohol along one of our State highways.This is what we're here to do; this is what this bill is about: it's another tool in the tool box to prevent serious harm and crashes in our country which is something I believe we all are committed to doing. On that note I commend this bill to the House.