June 19, 2012 1:58pm by David Farrar

Parliament 19 June 2012

Oral Questions 2 pm – 3 pm

  1. TODD McCLAY to the Minister of Finance: How is the Government’s economic programme helping New Zealand manage through current global uncertainty?
  2. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Minister of Finance: Is he confident that the Government’s economic and fiscal strategy is on track; if so, why?
  3. DAVID SHEARER to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all his statements?
  4. Dr RUSSEL NORMAN to the Minister of Finance: What is the value of contracts entered into to date for spending on advertising, communications and banking services relating to the Government’s asset sales programme?
  5. Dr PAUL HUTCHISON to the Minister of Health: How is the Voluntary Bonding Scheme improving health services?
  6. Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE to the Minister of Energy and Resources: Does he agree with Molly Melhuish’s calculation that the amount charged by SOEs for electricity for an average consumer is $265 per annum less than is charged by non-SOE retailers, and if not, what was the weighted average of the annual total retail price charged by SOEs and their subsidiaries to a residential consumer using 8,000 kilowatt hours of electricity compared with the weighted average of the price charged by non-SOE suppliers, according to the most recent data?
  7. Hon TAU HENARE to the Minister of Trade: Can he confirm that Mexico is now a full participant in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement?
  8. CHRIS HIPKINS to the Associate Minister of Education: Does he stand by his statement with regard to the public-private partnership for the Hobsonville schools “you can be assured that the contract that we’ve signed today, the taxpayer will be better off under this arrangement”?
  9. MELISSA LEE to the Minister for Social Development: How will the Government’s welfare reforms, currently before the House, support young people on a collision course with the welfare system?
  10. KEVIN HAGUE to the Minister for ACC: Will she return ACC to the pay-as-you-go funding model, outlined in the Green Party’s ACC Rehabilitation Plan and emailed to her this morning, and are there any points in the plan she will not consider implementing?
  11. ANDREW LITTLE to the Minister for ACC: On how many occasions, and for what periods of time on each occasion, did she meet with or have discussions with the ACC Chairman or Chief Executive, including about the matter of the mass privacy breach involving Bronwyn Pullar, between 13 March and 19 March when that matter was referred to the Police by way of formal complaint?
  12. JONATHAN YOUNG to the Minister of Energy and Resources: What decisions were made in Budget 2012/13 about the Warm Up New Zealand Programme?
Today there are five questions from National, four questions from Labour, two from the Greens, and one from NZ First.

Patsy of the day goes to Q5 – How is the Voluntary Bonding Scheme improving health services?

Labour are doing a gotcha question, plus asking on power prices, PPPs and ACC.

Greens are on asset sales and ACC and NZ First on the economy.

Government Bills 3.00 pm – 6.00 pm and 7.30 pm – 10.00 pm

  1. Mixed Ownership Model Bill – committee stage
  2. Dairy Industry Restructuring Amendment Bill – second reading continued

The Mixed Ownership Bill has only two parts to it, so would normally be around a three hour debate (ballpark is an hour per part, plus an hour for general provisions) but with lots of opposition and SOPs, I suspect it could well chew up all of the five and a half hours available.

The Mixed Ownership Model Bill was introduced in March 2012 and enables the Crown to  remove Genesis Power Limited, Meridian Energy Limited, Mighty River Power Limited, and Solid Energy New Zealand Limited from the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986, and restricts the Crown from holding less than 51% of the voting rights in each of the companies and will restrict non-Crown individuals and entities from holding more than 10% of the voting rights in each of the companies. It passed first reading 61-60 with National, ACT, United Future in favour and all other parties against. The Finance and Expenditure reported it back with minority reports from Labour and Greens. It passed second reading 61-59.

The Dairy Industry Restructuring Amendment Bill was introduced in March 2012 and seeks to  introduce a new regime in relation to Fonterra’s milk price setting, proposed capital restructure, and share valuation. It passed first reading 64 to 54 with Labour, Greens, NZ First and Mana against. The Primary Production Committee recommended it pass with amendments, with Labour and Greens giving minority reports.