August 20, 2015 1:00pm by David Farrar

Parliament 20 August 2015

The order paper is here.

Oral Questions 2.00 pm – 3.00 pm

  1. MARAMA FOX to the Minister of Education: Does the Minister agree that Māori boarding schools such as Turakina have produced a considerable number of Māori leaders and, if so, what is she doing to ensure the long-term sustainability of Māori boarding schools?
  2. Hon ANNETTE KING to the Minister of Health: If Government health expenditure has not kept up with all inflationary pressures, as he admitted three weeks ago, what impact has this shortfall had on patients?
  3. JAMI-LEE ROSS to the Minister of Finance: What recent reports has he received on the outlook for the New Zealand economy?
  4. JULIE ANNE GENTER to the Minister of Finance: Does the Thirty Year New Zealand Infrastructure Plan identify reduction of greenhouse gas pollution and adaption to climate change as key challenges for infrastructure planning over the next 30 years; if not, why not?
  5. STUART SMITH to the Minister for Primary Industries: What actions is the Government taking to strengthen biosecurity measures at the border?
  6. GRANT ROBERTSON to the Minister of Finance: What State Owned Enterprises and Crown Entities were identified as having “specific opportunities” for “capital recycling” in the Treasury Report: Capital Investment, Recycling and the Fiscal Strategy dated 3 November 2014, and did he reject any of the specific opportunities identified by officials?
  7. TODD BARCLAY to the Minister of Tourism: What recent reports has he received about regional tourism growth?
  8. SUE MORONEY to the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety: Why are dairy, sheep and beef farms not defined as high-risk workplaces requiring worker health and safety representation, when more than one-third of New Zealand’s workplace deaths in the past 5 years have happened in the agricultural sector?
  9. MELISSA LEE to the Minister of Health: Can he confirm that 3.5 million New Zealanders received a funded medicine in 2014/15, and that this is an increase of more than 100,000 compared with the previous year?
  10. STUART NASH to the Minister for Land Information: What is the actual dollar value of added investment that has come into New Zealand for development purposes that was promised by the 608 successful overseas purchasers of New Zealand sensitive land who promised the introduction into New Zealand of added investment for development purposes as part of their successful consent application?
  11. RON MARK to the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery: Does he stand by all his statements?
  12. Dr SHANE RETI to the Minister for Communications: Can she provide an update on the broadband deployment in the regions?

National: Five questions on the economy, biosecurity, tourism, medicines funding, abd broadband.

Labour: Four questions on health spending, capital recycling, workplace safety and foreign investment.

Greens: One questions on climate change.

NZ First: One questions on CERA Minister standing by his statements and confidence in Serco

Maori Party: One question on Maori boarding schools

Government Bills 3.00 pm to 6.00 pm

Health and Safety Reform Bill – committee stage continued

The Bill replaces the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 and the Machinery Act 1950 to reform New Zealand’s workplace health and safety system, following the work of the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety and the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine tragedy.

  • Introduced March 2014
  • 1st reading: March 2014, passed unanimously
  • SC report: July 2015, passed with amendments by majority with Labour, Green and NZ First minority reports
  • 2nd reading: July 2015, passed 63 to 56 with Labour, Greens and NZ First against

There is no time limit for the committee stage but it is estimated to be a seven hour debate as the bill has six parts and preliminary provisions to debate. Two parts have been debates, so there are probably four to five hours remaining.

There are seven SOPs – two from the Minister Michael Woodhouse, three from Labour, one from the Greens and one from the Maori Party.

Taxation (Transformation: First Phase Simplification and Other Measures) Bill – first reading

The bill amends several statutes relating to taxation in order to facilitate easier communication with Inland Revenue, simplify tax rules and provide for the sharing of information.

  • Introduced: June 2015

The first reading consist of 12 speeches of up to 10 minutes each, for a maximum debate of two hours.