Ardern Jacinda: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeArdern Jacinda: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 23 September 2015. Volume:709;Page:6927. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]8.JACINDA ARDERN (Labour) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by his response yesterday when asked whether his Chief of Staff was trying to stop him talking about the flag during speeches that “Far from that being correct I think record numbers of people are turning up”?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Yes.Jacinda Ardern: How many people who turned up to the New Zealand Gynaecological Cancer Foundation fund-raiser in Auckland last Thursday expected him to give a speech on the flag and to then be asked by him to raise their hands if they were against changing it? [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! I have not called the Prime Minister; I am just waiting for a bit of silence.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I do not know but I do not know how many people who went along that evening expected to see a fashion show with people in lingerie and the like. I do not know how many people who went along expected to pay $10000 to come and have afternoon tea with me to help raise $20000 for the charity. I do not know how many people who came along that night expected to stand in a queue wanting to take photos—but all of those things happened that night.Jacinda Ardern: When he was trying to conduct a straw poll on the flag in the middle of a cancer fund-raiser can he confirm stating “Go on I won’t judge you.” and then proceeded to individually berate people who put their hands up?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No that is not correct.Jacinda Ardern: Can he confirm that he also used his speech at a cancer fund-raiser to tell the audience that those who argued against change on the grounds that soldiers died under the flag were “misguided” and then proceeded to lecture the audience on New Zealand military history?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I am not sure whether I used the word “misguided” but what I have always said is that actually in my opinion people fought for the values and principles that underpin New Zealand including human rights women’s rights and democracy. I also gave a very long speech about biologics about Herceptin and about why this Government was doing something for people with cancer when the Labour Party completely failed to do so.Denis O’Rourke: Can the Prime Minister assure New Zealanders that Gwynn Compton his social media adviser who is donkey-deep in “change the flag” is not campaigning at the taxpayers’ expense; if so how?Mr SPEAKER: Either of those two supplementary questions the Rt Hon Prime Minister.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I have no evidence that he is doing that.Jacinda Ardern: Will he take his chief of staff’s advice and stop using events such as cancer fund-raisers business awards and even a student achievement ceremony to lecture people on his pet project of changing the flag?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Firstly that is not the advice of my chief of staff and secondly no I will continue to talk about the fact that as a country national pride and patriotism is important. And if I was the leader of the Labour Party and had a policy of changing the flag—Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. At the beginning of the week you issued a series of instructions to both those who ask questions and those who answer them. The Prime Minister began a sentence that said “If I was the leader of the Labour Party”. He is not he never will be and he should have been sat down.Mr SPEAKER: Well I—[Interruption] Order! I accept that that part might have been inaccurate in the answer given but when I think about the tone of the question which was “When will the Prime Minister stop lecturingetc.” I thought that that was a question with a little bit of emotion in it which gave a bit more of a wide berth to the Prime Minister in his ability to answer it.