The Government’s release of its draft transport plans is set to dominate in Question Time today as a National MP apologises for an “unparliamentary remark” he made in the House.
National MP Tim Costley apologised today for a remark he made during a debate in the House on Thursday.
It’s understood Costley’s comment came during debate of the Local Government (Facilitation of Remote Participation) Amendment Bill during which the Otaki MP said: “Geez, we had it during the last one; you were getting told how long you’re allowed to stay in the shower. I don’t like the thought of Grant Robertson inspecting me in the shower, quite frankly!”
Acting PM Winston Peters will fill in for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at Parliament, due to Luxon’s trip to Australia to meet Asean leaders.
In Luxon’s absence, Peters took questions from Opposition leaders Chris Hipkins and Marama Davidson who pressed Peters on the Government’s various repeals and its plans for the free school lunches programme.
Hipkins pointed out the repeal of the Māori Health Authority came in the same week the Government repealed world-leading anti-smoking laws, putting more Māori at risk.
Peters claimed Hipkins’ characterisation was “demonstrably untrue”, to which Hipkins said: “Here comes the tobacco lobbying talking points” – a common jibe Labour has used on this topic.
Peters replied: “No, here comes the truth.”
Davidson focused on the free school lunches programme, the funding for which minister David Seymour said he wanted to cut by between a third and a half, claiming there was waste in the programme.
Peters and Davidson went back and forth over the findings of a PISA report into the impact of ensuring kids at school didn’t go hungry.
Davidson quoted findings that achievement dropped when kids came to school hungry. Peters said this was a “misnomer” and that fixing achievement is more related to addressing truancy.
Peters defended Seymour’s intention to assess the effectiveness of the programme, saying it would ensure every cent was spent well.
Luxon’s trip today was delayed by a breakdown of the Air Force’s Boeing, which meant Luxon had to take a commercial flight instead.
Labour and Green MPs will ask questions of Transport Minister Simeon Brown after his release yesterday of the Government’s draft plan for transport.
That included roading priorities, and plans to increase vehicle registration fees by $50 a year, as well as setting out fuel tax increases from 2027 onwards. National had promised not to increase fuel taxes in the 2023-2026 term, but has set out a 12 cent increase in January 2027, followed by a further 6c a litre in 2028 and 4c a litre each following year. By the end of the next parliamentary term, the Government will have raised fuel taxes by 22c a litre.
The Government also plans to increase traffic infringement fines and to ask police to boost their enforcement on the roads.
Broadcasting Minister Melissa Lee will face questions from Labour’s Willie Jackson – a former broadcasting minister – as Lee comes under scrutiny over her response to the news that Newshub faces closure in June unless a white knight investor comes forward.
This morning, Lee said she had updated Cabinet on Monday on both the Newshub closure and on TVNZ’s annual result, showing its total revenue had slumped 13.5 per cent in the last year and a net loss of $16.8 million for the six months ending December.
TVNZ has flagged further cost-cutting to try to address that.
Lee said this morning that she had asked officials to come back to her on the issue of transmission costs – one of the areas Newshub had earlier asked for relief on. Lee has not yet said whether the Government will shift to supporting the Fair Digital Bargaining Bill, which addresses the issue of social media giants using news content, saying only she would consider it after a select committee process.
Ahead of Question Time, Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee has made a ruling saying points of order raised in the House must be done so with the accompanying rule an MP thinks hasn’t been abided by – something prompted by several instances of MPs complaining about the frequent use of points of orders, including by Peters.
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