Oral Questions

1. to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government’s policies and actions?

Yes, particularly the Government’s climate change work programme, including the release today of the final advice from the Climate Change Commission. The commission’s analysis shows the 30-year transition to a low-emissions economy is achievable, will create jobs and new opportunities for Kiwi businesses, and will provide business with certainty to invest in new technology to enter new markets. The Climate Change Commission’s advice has confirmed that the Government has made good progress to reduce emissions: passing the zero carbon Act and improving the emissions trading scheme; investing in public transport, rail, cycling, and walking infrastructure, and electric vehicle infrastructure around the country; Budget 2021 is doubling funding for the Low Emissions Vehicles Contestable Fund over the next four years; developing a vehicle emissions standard for new imports and a mandate to include biofuels in petrol and diesel; and helping businesses to switch to clean energy with the Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry Fund. The commission’s report makes clear there is more to do, and we’ll consider the commission’s advice over coming months as we develop our emissions reduction plan.

💬 David Seymour: Which of the Climate Change Commission’s recommendations, if any, will the Prime Minister rule out implementing?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: By law we are required, as a Government, under the zero carbon Act, to go through due process in considering the advice from the climate commission as we formulate an emissions reduction plan and as we formulate our emissions budgets, and so I’m going to undertake that in good faith.

💬 David Seymour: Why does the Prime Minister expect the public to believe that the population will keep growing, the economy and living standards will keep growing, and carbon emissions will reduce by 63 percent in the next 14 years—that’s more than half—

💬 SPEAKER: Order! The member’s asked a question, and it’s a very long one already.

💬 David Seymour: A tiny little addition?

💬 SPEAKER: If it’s a question, yes. If it’s not, no.

💬 David Seymour: OK, well, all I was going to add, Mr Speaker, for the Prime Minister’s benefit, is to give her a little context that carbon emissions have been rising every year this century, in contrast to—

💬 SPEAKER: That’s in conflict with what I just said. The member can start again and use another supplementary.

💬 David Seymour: Expensive business! How does the Prime Minister expect the public to believe that emissions are going to painlessly decrease by 63 percent in the next 14 years, when every year this century, on average, emissions have increased so far?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I don’t think anyone is suggesting that change won’t be required. The point that the climate commission has made is that the foundations the Government has laid are the right ones; we just need to make sure that we keep going and that we lift the pace. The alternative, if we don’t do that, is that the potential cost to the economy will be greater due to inaction than it will be via action.

💬 David Seymour: When the Prime Minister said that the Government has laid the foundations and needs to increase the pace, was she referring to the record 1.1 million tonnes of coal imported last year, or the fact that emissions have actually increased under her Government—which is she going to accelerate?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The member raises the issue with New Zealand’s electricity generation. One of the issues that we’re facing, of course, is that whilst we have a very high rate of renewables in New Zealand, in a hydrological dry year, we have a major problem, and so we have to look at options to try and overcome that. We’ve laid the foundation for that piece of work. We’re laying the foundations for New Zealand to finally have clean car standards so that we don’t continue, particularly in an era where other countries will start phasing out the use of internal combustion engines—where we start putting in some standards around what’s imported into New Zealand so that we don’t end up being the dumping ground of other countries. We are starting the work by incentivising industry who, through manufacturing processes, are using fossil fuels for production—to support them to transition. It’s excellent to see some of those higher users—for instance, the likes of Fonterra—making very ambitious plans to change the way they undertake their processing, which will be good for all of us.

💬 Simon Court: Will the Prime Minister commit to ensuring that any climate change policies are subject to a cost-benefit analysis?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We are obliged to go through a rigorous process, and, of course, the climate commission, as part of their report, have encouraged us in particular areas to undertake that process, including—and let’s acknowledge what they’ve said around our ambition of 100 percent renewable electricity. So that’s one of the areas they’ve called for that. We’re undertaking a business case and analysis around the way that we would achieve that through projects like Onslow to see whether or not it offers the solution that New Zealand is looking for. The member can engage in that process over the next several months, and I encourage him to do so.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Is she aware, when she referenced Fonterra, that they’re having to actually burn coal to dry the wood at Brightwater?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I reference the fact that they are working to transition their energy generation in their processing plants. If the member is contesting that ambition, I’d suggest she raise that with Fonterra, because that is very much part of their public planning. If the member thinks it’s to our benefit to continue to use fossil fuels as part of our clean, green image as we export our dairy products, she is definitely out of step with where Fonterra is heading.

💬 Mark Cameron: Will she rule out implementing the commission’s recommendations which could see total dairy cattle numbers and sheep and beef numbers fall by 13 percent?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I’d refer to the first answer—I believe it was the first answer I gave to Mr Seymour—around fulfilling our obligations in not responding immediately but going through due process in considering the commission’s report.

Question No. 2—Finance

2. to the Minister of Finance: What recent reports has he seen on the New Zealand economy?

The wholesale and manufacturing sectors are contributing to supporting the recovery. This morning Stats New Zealand reported a continued rise in manufacturing sales volumes in the March quarter, up 0.4 percent from the previous quarter to reach a record peak of $27 billion. The biggest contribution came from the electronic and electrical equipment manufacturing sector. Outputs from this industry fed into the exports of optical, medical, and measuring equipment goods, which have increased over 50 percent during the last 12 months. Meat and dairy products manufacturing sales volumes rose 1.3 percent in the March 2021 quarter, the second-largest industry rise. Separately, wholesale trade sales rose 3.7 percent in the March 2021 quarter, a rebound from a decline in the previous quarter, and the biggest contribution here came from the motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts industry.

💬 Helen White: What other reports has he seen on the economy?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The Government’s efforts to secure the recovery are reflected in the jobs market. The SEEK NZ Employment Report increased by 5.1 percent in May from the previous month to a record high for job advertising numbers. For the year, job ads rose 193 percent. More importantly, job ad numbers have now surpassed pre-COVID marks by more than 20 percent. A BNZ economist’s noted “it is not enough to say job advertising has fully recovered … ‘It is now exceptionally strong.’ ”

💬 Helen White: What reports has he seen on the impact of climate change on the economy?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: As we have heard, today the final report of the Climate Change Commission was released. It shows that we can build on the progress that the Government has already made to meet our climate targets in a way that is affordable and achievable. The commission has revised its modelling of the GDP impact. It now estimates the level of GDP could be around 0.5 percent lower in 2035, and 1.2 percent lower in 2050, than it otherwise would have been. This does not account for co-benefits such as health improvements or wellbeing benefits. Importantly, the commission has now included an estimate of the impact on GDP of delaying action. It says that delay, particularly in deploying electric vehicles and improved farm practices, could result in the level of GDP in 2050 falling by around 2.3 percent. The Government welcomes this report and is now working its way through its recommendations for our response.

💬 Andrew Bayly: Has he seen the ANZ New Zealand Business Outlook report, which showed that 86 percent of businesses are expecting higher costs ahead, which is bad news for superannuitants and low-income earners?

💬 Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Yes, I have seen that report, and what it does say is that firms are very optimistic about their own outlook, which is going up; their export intentions; their investment intentions; and their property expectations. So I tend to look on the optimistic side of the report.

Question No. 3—Prime Minister

3. to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all of her Government’s statements and actions?

Yes, in particular I stand by this Government’s focus on a COVID-19 immunisation programme centred on the Pfizer vaccine, and welcome yesterday’s announcement of 1 million doses arriving in July. This means double the number of vaccines will be received by the end of next month, and we will have enough stock to fully vaccinate a million New Zealanders. With this announcement, we can continue ramping up our roll-out to the general population next month and will ensure everyone in New Zealand who wants a vaccine will be offered one before the end of the year. With around 20,000 doses a day currently being administered and greater certainty of supply, the Government is on track to reach the peak of our programme in August and September, where we will deliver roughly 50,000 doses per day. [Interruption]

💬 SPEAKER: Order!

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Offering a vaccine to every New Zealander who wants one is the best way as a country we can secure our recovery.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Why has she prioritised a cycling bridge that might benefit 3,000 people over developing the Mill Road highway, that would support an extra 120,000 people living in southern Auckland?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I would refer the member to the fact that we have varied the investment around Mill Road because, without that, it would have been the most expensive road in the country at $3.5 billion. It was prudent and necessary to take another look at that investment. The changes that we’ve made will still allow the acceleration of housing development in a really critical area of Auckland.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Why has she prioritised a $785 million cycle bridge to the North Shore when commuting from Pukekohe to the CBD currently takes more than an hour by car and over 80 minutes, one way, using rail?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: You’ll see a consistency in the fact that we’ve made decisions that are investing in high-growth areas whilst also working to reduce emissions. For instance, the investments in the south are about better connectivity. We’ve got another train station going into an area of high growth because our view is we need to provide options to those looking to move around the city. At the moment, we’ve had, unfortunately, over a number of decades, a very significant investment in roading and not enough investment consistently in public transport options.

💬 Hon Michael Wood: Does she stand by the Government’s investments through the New Zealand Upgrade Programme in the Papakura electorate in terms of the State Highway 1 investment between Papakura and Drury, and the Papakura to Pukekohe electrification project—two projects that will significantly increase the ability of people to move around—

💬 SPEAKER: Order! Order! I am going to rule the question out because I have been making it clear to members that they don’t add extra things on when they’ve finished their question, in the way that the Minister did then.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: What is her response to the chair of the Infrastructure Commission, Dr Alan Bollard, who says of the cycle bridge, “It will move less than 1 percent of the existing bridge traffic while subsidising one of the wealthiest suburbs in the country. The arithmetic does not stack up.”?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Look, I don’t necessarily expect every individual to support the idea of providing multimodal transport, but I do believe that if we are going to create an international city where we are able to move people around that city through various modes of transport, and we have as a party and as a Government made a commitment to enabling that between the North Shore and the CBD but we’re stuck with a structural issue that prevents that—we’re working to find our way around that, and that is what we propose. I do note that it seems a significant departure for the member and her party, who previously had supported a route that connected the North Shore and the CBD. I notice that they no longer support that. I’d be very interested to know whether or not that’s the view of all their members in Auckland.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: Is $785 million to move less than 1 percent of traffic from the bridge the type of return she expects when investing taxpayer money?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I’ve previously seen that member’s party make decisions on roading projects that did not stack up. We have made a judgment, for instance, on Mill Road that we could not justify the investment in what would become the most expensive project in the country. However, we currently have a connection where people cannot walk, cannot cycle, and they are cut off from joining other public transport networks between the North Shore and the CBD. We have estimates of how many would use that daily. That’s on a previous business case, but our view is it’s a connection that’s required.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: By how many minutes will the $785 million cycle bridge reduce the average commute time from the North Shore to Auckland’s CBD, if any?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Two points. Some of the alternatives that have been proposed around using two lanes of the harbour bridge to provide the same thing would likely considerably contribute to congestion on the existing route. So that’s why we have not favoured that option. When it comes to commute times for this current proposal, if the member chooses to put a question on notice, I’m sure I could provide further information.

💬 Hon Judith Collins: What is her response to the people of Ashburton, who have been emailing me asking how she was able to find $785 million for a cycle bridge in Auckland but not $30 million to build them a much needed second car-bridge across the Ashburton River?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Well, the first point I’d make is actually this is a commitment that has been made some time ago. And as I pointed out yesterday, the issue has been that the engineering work has demonstrated to us that the original plan is not feasible. The second point on Ashburton: the Minister of Transport visited with the mayor only last week. Obviously, the issues that we’ve seen from slash and the significant flooding event have had an impact on the bridge. The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) are working very hard to get heavy vehicles back over the bridge in night hours, because at the moment, in the evenings, they’re taking a detour, and I understand that the NZTA are talking to local government about a business case for potentially alternative routes. My understanding is that, to date, that hasn’t existed, but we are working closely with them because, obviously, we see the fragility of the connection down south that’s been caused by this flood.

Question No. 4—Climate Change

4. to the Minister of Climate Change: Will the Government follow the final advice of He Pou a Rangi, the Climate Change Commission?

The Climate Change Commission has set out a clear direction for our path to ensure a safe climate for future generations, and we are already moving in that direction. Cabinet will still need to make decisions over the coming months, and I can’t pre-empt those decisions today, but I can say, under the zero carbon Act, the Government has to either follow the commission’s advice or come up with a better alternative.

💬 Hon Eugenie Sage: Does he accept the commission’s conclusion that current policies are not enough to meet our targets for a low-emissions future?

💬 Hon JAMES SHAW: Yes, I do, and that’s why the Government’s planning to build on the work that we have already begun to reduce emissions. I welcome the commission’s conclusions that existing technologies make taking action affordable, delaying action would be more costly, and that reducing emissions can also have good outcomes for people’s health and energy bills. I take heart that the commission has told us that we are acting in the right areas, like transport, energy, agriculture, and waste, but we need our actions to be both bolder and faster.

💬 Hon Eugenie Sage: How will he ensure the Government follows the commission’s advice to work in partnership with Iwi Māori?

💬 Hon JAMES SHAW: When Parliament unanimously passed the zero carbon Act, we included a specific legal requirement for the Government to pay attention to the effects of climate change for iwi Māori. The commission has told us that upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi “must be at the core of our transition.”, and that is very important to the Government.

💬 Hon Eugenie Sage: When will the Government follow the commission’s recommendations to incentivise the uptake of electric cars?

💬 Hon JAMES SHAW: Budget 2021 included $300 million to incentivise the uptake of electric vehicles, and we will be making an announcement about that very soon.

💬 Hon Eugenie Sage: Does he support the commission’s advice to establish 300,000 hectares of new native forest in the next few years, including integrated pest management?

💬 Hon JAMES SHAW: Native forests are essential to achieving both our climate change targets, improving our biodiversity, and restoring the ecosystems that sustain us. I agree with the commission that native forestry can provide enduring carbon sinks that clean our air and protect our environment for future generations.

💬 Hon Eugenie Sage: What does he expect other Ministers to do in response to the climate commission’s advice?

💬 Hon JAMES SHAW: Climate change requires a response right across the Government. Many Ministers are already working together to develop the emissions reduction plan, and many departments and agencies are also doing their bit. We know that we have the right tools in the tool box; now we need to put them to use. And, as the chair of the Climate Change Commission said today, “We just need to get on with it now.”

Question No. 5—COVID-19 Response

5. to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: What recent announcements has he made on the roll-out of the vaccination programme?

Yesterday, the Prime Minister and I announced that Pfizer has scheduled delivery of an estimated 1 million additional doses of the vaccine to New Zealand during July. These consignments will double the number of Pfizer doses we’ve received this year to more than 1.9 million, enough to fully vaccinate almost a million Kiwis. While we know that the ongoing pandemic can impact on vaccine delivery schedules, Pfizer has given us further assurances that the remaining deliveries for 2021 are on track, just as their deliveries right the way through the year so far have been.

💬 Dr Anae Neru Leavasa: How will these additional deliveries support our vaccination roll-out?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The deliveries will enable us to continue vaccinating groups 1, 2, and 3 while giving us the certainty we need to start the general population roll-out as we had planned. The supplies mean DHBs can continue delivering to their plans and start accelerating their way through group 3 from July onwards. We’re currently administering around 20,000 doses a day. I think our highest point was about just under 23,000 doses, and the Pfizer deliveries throughout July will enable us to ramp this up significantly. At the peak of the programme across August and September, it is projected that it will be administering on average up to 50,000 doses per day. This will add significant momentum to the programme, to the momentum that’s already been generated.

💬 Dr Anae Neru Leavasa: How are these deliveries expected to be distributed?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Pfizer have been delivering us weekly amounts of the vaccine, and we expect that to continue. It starts with a larger quantity in the first two weeks of July than we have had to date, and then gets up to an even larger quantity in the second two weeks of July, which aligns with our work to ramp up the programme. I’ve also been pleased to announce that the extra ultra-low temperature storage freezers have been delivered and are now in place in Auckland and Christchurch, meaning that the vaccines can be delivered directly into Christchurch now without having to go through Auckland.

💬 Dr Anae Neru Leavasa: Is he confident that we are prepared for the national roll-out?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Yes. District health boards are currently performing over 10 percent ahead of their delivery plans. We are vaccinating more people each week, week on week, and more than 7,000 vaccinators have completed the necessary training to administer the vaccine. It’s exciting and reassuring to see the programme is continuing to ramp up. We do have at our disposal one of the best vaccines on the market, and we are making it available for free to everybody in New Zealand who is eligible through the course of 2021.

💬 Chris Bishop: Why are 3,800 border workers still not vaccinated, when the COVID-19 website says that as members of group 1 they will be vaccinated by the end of March 2021?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I don’t actually accept that that is a fair conclusion to reach. There are some issues around the way people are coded within their vaccination. So we have seen, for example, some people in group 1B categorised as group 3. In terms of group 1A, as we—[Interruption]

💬 SPEAKER: Order! I think this is a matter which most members of the House are trying to take seriously. Having the Minister shouted down by one of the more senior members and the shadow Leader of the House doesn’t help the House here.

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: In terms of group 1A, which includes the managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) workforce and others working at the border, where individual cases have arrived to work—in an MIQ, for example—and the border worker testing register has suggested that they’ve not been vaccinated, when that has been investigated it’s found that they have been vaccinated but there is a data issue in terms of the comparability between data sets. The area where we still do have lower than acceptable vaccination rates is at our maritime ports, and further work is being done on that.

Question No. 6—Transport

6. to the Minister of Transport: Does the Government expect to deliver all the transport projects it announced in January 2020 as part of the NZ Upgrade Programme; if not, which projects will not go ahead as originally announced?

As I announced last Friday, the Government is delivering New Zealand Upgrade Programme projects in all of the regions first announced in January 2020. All projects announced have had some level of change from when they were first announced—for example, with scope changes and/or cost changes.

💬 Hon Michael Woodhouse: Point of order. The second part of that question was which projects would not go ahead as originally announced, and I don’t think the Minister had addressed that question.

💬 SPEAKER: Well, I think he did. I think he said “all of them”, didn’t he? [Interruption] Well, he said there were changes made to all of them, so isn’t that—

💬 Hon Michael Woodhouse: To the Minister, what were the characteristics of the Ōtaki to north of Levin project that justify it continuing, and were those characteristics present in the Mill Road project?

💬 Hon MICHAEL WOOD: Every project was assessed on its own merits, taking into account a range of considerations, including the issue of how cost escalations would be managed, including the impact on resilience and safety, and including climate change considerations. I do note that in the case of the Mill Road project, the escalation was in the order of $2.2 billion, a magnitude of three times the increase in the Ōtaki to north of Levin project. Unlike the previous Government, which, with projects like Transmission Gully, kicked cost escalations down the road to be cleaned up, we believe it’s more responsible to deal with them at the time.

💬 Hon Michael Woodhouse: Were electoral considerations one of those characteristics?

💬 Hon MICHAEL WOOD: No.

💬 Hon Michael Woodhouse: Does he agree with the Minister of Finance, who said at the launch of the Upgrade Programme, “The big difference is that they are funded. Every dollar required for these projects is in the Government accounts today.”?

💬 Hon MICHAEL WOOD: I’m very pleased to confirm that as a result of decisions that we took on Friday, every single project in the New Zealand Upgrade Programme is funded, according to the advice that we have received from Waka Kotahi and KiwiRail.

💬 Hon Michael Woodhouse: Well, given that answer, will the project go ahead as announced?

💬 Hon MICHAEL WOOD: Well, yes, that absolutely is the intention of the Government.

Question No. 7—Police

7. to the Minister of Police: What recent reports has she seen regarding Police’s efforts to disrupt organised crime?

I’ve seen reports that police have concluded a number of operations to disrupt transnational organised crime, as part of Operation Trojan Shield and Operation Spyglass. The operations led by the FBI and coordinated with the Australian Federal Police, Europol, and numerous other law enforcement partners from across the globe have seen a worldwide crackdown on organised crime. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the police for their role in Operation Trojan Shield and in keeping our community safe.

💬 Ginny Andersen: How has Operation Trojan Shield disrupted organised crime locally?

💬 Hon POTO WILLIAMS: More than 300 officers executed 37 search warrants across the North Island, and illegal firearms, methamphetamine, cannabis, and more than an estimated $1 million in cash have been recovered. Police have also arrested 35 individuals and laid over 900 charges.

💬 Ginny Andersen: How is the Government supporting police in their efforts to disrupt organised crime?

💬 Hon POTO WILLIAMS: This Government has made it very clear that we will not tolerate organised crime in gangs. Last month, we announced our intention to amend the proceeds of crime legislation to ensure that those involved in organised crime would have to demonstrate that their assets were obtained through legitimate means. If they can’t, their assets will be seized. This Government has put on record that a number of police on the front line have a specific focus on organised crime. This Government’s record investment in police will include 700 additional investigators. This operation highlights the excellent impact that these officers can have.

Question No. 8—Prime Minister

8. to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government’s statements and actions?

Yes, in particular our targeted support in this year’s Budget to support Māori in areas like housing, health, education, tamariki, whānau, justice reform, and te reo Māori. The total Māori Budget package is in excess of $1 billion and invests in areas right across our economic recovery while supporting Māori across the country. Key initiatives include Māori housing; Māori health initiatives; the setting up of the Māori Health Authority; Māori education, and particular support for Māori boarding schools and to lift kōhanga reo teachers’ pay; $42 million to build a sustainable Māori media sector and invest in programme content; funding for Māori tourism; and $14.8 million for the implementation of the Māori Language Strategy. This support will help our economic recovery and support Māori.

💬 Rawiri Waititi: Does she stand by her international commitments as part of the Christchurch Call to protect citizens from online hate speech and violent threats, and does this commitment include protection of tangata whenua?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Yes. In fact, you’ll see from the work programme off the back of particularly the royal commission, in tandem with, of course, the work on the Christchurch Call—but on the royal commission, a really strong theme coming through there was that we need to involve conversation and dialogue through the reform process with all communities but particularly tangata whenua as well. So that is a big part of our response to the royal commission’s report.

💬 Rawiri Waititi: Has she received any reports from the police or the intelligence agencies that demonstrate the rising volume of white supremacist hate and violence against tangata whenua, as expressed vividly online by a masked white supremacist who threatened to slaughter tens of thousands of Māori and burn down our marae?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Whilst we don’t tend to comment on the specifics of intelligence reporting, it will be obvious to everyone in this House that we have seen that extremist groups—those who hold extremist ideology, those who hold racist ideology—are certainly in existence in Aotearoa New Zealand. Our job is to make sure that we work in a preventative fashion to try and protect people from that ideology, and that we respond where we see it, using the full force of the criminal justice system. It is, however, up to our police to make sure that they are doing that. They have operational independence. But I understand the member has both sought to meet with the Commissioner of Police around those issues and has met with the Minister with responsibility for our intelligence agencies. I hope he received a receptive audience to addressing the challenges the member has raised.

💬 Rawiri Waititi: Point of order, Mr Speaker. Just for clarity of the House, the commissioner didn’t turn up today.

💬 Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Are her Christchurch Call policy changes sufficient, when that video, which, essentially, threatened genocide on tangata whenua, was online on multiple platforms for longer than 24 hours?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Two responses to that. Of course, for an incident that occurs, we would expect that when that is raised, that’s then dealt with by the New Zealand Police according to the law. I understand arrests may have been made in the particular case that’s been raised. But when it comes to the issue of the removal of content that’s considered to be offensive or objectionable, we are doing some work to ensure that we have consistency in the way that we treat material, whether it’s on an online platform, social media content, or indeed through some of our usual mainstream ways that we’ve accessed content in the past, through broadcasting. We know there’s more work we need to do there, and we’re doing it, and equally we’re trying to lead the charge internationally on making sure there’s a consistent approach to take down through social media platforms too. Just in response, I understand the commissioner has made a commitment to reschedule with the Māori Party on the basis of the unavailability of meeting today.

💬 Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Will she support the establishment of a joint Government task force that includes the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and New Zealand Police that is focused on protecting tangata whenua from violent white supremacists, and, if not, why not?

💬 Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I would have an expectation that our agencies would be doing that work as a matter of course in their daily duties. Those operational decisions ultimately do exist for them, but I think everyone in this House would expect that anyone that receives threats, anyone that is the subject of threats either online or in any environment, experiences the full force of the law, and that if we are seeing the rise of some of these groups—and I believe we are, both globally and in our own jurisdiction—the agencies would respond to that.

Question No. 9—Agriculture

9. to the Minister of Agriculture: What recent announcements has he made about integrated farm planning?

Yesterday, I released the Good Farm Planning Principles guide to provide guidance for farmers on how they can organise their business operations and help New Zealand meet significant environmental challenges and market opportunities. This guide is the gateway to an integrated farm planning approach. That is, that each farmer is looking at their farm as a whole to streamline compliance, avoid duplication, boost productivity, and improve environmental outcomes. We have developed the guide in partnership with senior representatives from farming industry organisations, councils, and Māori agribusiness, and I welcome their commitment to promoting the value of integrated farm planning across the sector.

💬 Steph Lewis: How will integrated farm planning help farmers and growers to meet their climate change targets?

💬 Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR: Under the He Waka Eke Noa partnership, 25 percent of farmers and growers will need to have a written plan in place to measure and manage their emissions by the start of next year, and 100 percent will need to have this in place by the beginning of 2025. In addition, in its final advice out today, the climate commission emphasised the importance of improving on-farm practices and disseminating existing good practice more widely. The integrated farm planning guide released yesterday incorporates the He Waka Eke Noa farm planning guidelines for greenhouse gas emissions that were released in December last year, making it easier for farmers and growers to integrate climate change requirements into their current farm planning. This Government is committed to helping increase the uptake of integrated farm planning across the country in support of our climate ambition so that more farmers and growers better understand their climate impacts and what actions may be required to mitigate them.

💬 Steph Lewis: How is the Government supporting the roll-out of integrated farm planning?

💬 Hon DAMIEN O’CONNOR: Budget 2021 invests $37 million towards a national integrated farm planning system. It will deliver 100 more professionals and work with existing organisations who have the skills to provide advice to farmers and growers with aspects of planning. It will also improve information and data interoperability across the primary industries and between regulators and industry assurance programmes. An accelerator fund will be set up to invest in targeted initiatives to significantly broaden the uptake of integrated farm planning through great organisations like catchment management groups. Once integrated farm planning is fully rolled out, up to 40,000 farmers and growers will have the tools they need to improve their on-farm performance and meet their freshwater and greenhouse gas requirements.

Question No. 10—Building and Construction

10. to the Minister for Building and Construction: Does she stand by her statement, when asked if Budget 2021 is wrong in respect of the Residential Earthquake-Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme, that “on the face of it, it would appear to be”?

In so far that there is a typo in the “Overview of the Vote” page on Vote Building and Construction that uses the phrase “just under $11 million to make assistance available to owner-occupiers or investors in, or facing, hardship” rather than simply “owner-occupiers”, yes.

Tim van de Molen: So did the Minister bother to proofread the appropriation for the Budget?

💬 Hon POTO WILLIAMS: It’s unfortunate that there is a typo in the overview, but it does not affect the Budget appropriation in any way.

Tim van de Molen: So in relation to the criteria, then, for investors being excluded, how many applications—as opposed to expressions of interest—have been received for the scheme?

💬 Hon POTO WILLIAMS: As I’ve told this House on a number of occasions now, we are supporting people who have made expressions of interest to become ready to submit, but at this stage we have not received any applications.

💬 SPEAKER: Order! I’m going to apologise to the House. I should have ruled that question out. It didn’t flow from either the question or the answer.

Tim van de Molen: Has the more than $700,000 spent on administering the scheme, including promotion to applicants, been effective, given there have been zero applications?

💬 Hon POTO WILLIAMS: As I explained to the member during the Estimates debate, the appropriation and the spending thus far has been to support those who have expressed an interest in taking part in this scheme. It is a complex matter needing engineering—we’re talking about people, generally, who do not have technical expertise. But part of the issue is to ensure that they’ve got the right expertise, the right advice, and that all the other criteria are met, including that they have made applications for funding and have been turned down.

Tim van de Molen: So with a view to trying to attract a single applicant, will she seek advice from the Hon Megan Woods about how to effectively promote a scheme by, perhaps, using drones?

Question No. 11—Māori Development

11. to the Minister for Māori Development: What steps has the Government taken to support Māori housing aspirations?

Since the 2019 Budget, the Te Puni Kōkiri (TPK) housing investment programme has provided funding for 53 houses on papa kāinga, and infrastructure for 115 individual house sites, 824 housing repairs projects, and 89 sorted Kāinga Ora programmes to build whānau financial capability. Over the past six months, I’ve been able to visit with a number of Māori housing developments, from papa kāinga to affordable rentals, like the ones being provided by Rehua Marae in Christchurch. And I’m proud that this Government is partnering with Māori to deliver long-term, healthy, sustainable housing options for our people.

Tāmati Coffey: How does the Wellbeing Budget 2021 support Māori housing aspirations?

💬 Hon WILLIE JACKSON: In Budget 2021, $380 million over four years has been invested into the Whai Kāinga Whai Oranga programme, jointly delivered by Te Puni Kōkiri and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD). Whai Kāinga Whai Oranga will see TPK working alongside MHUD to deliver funding for about 1,000 houses, including projects on papa kāinga, repairs to about 700 whare led by TPK, and $30 million towards building future capabilities for iwi and Māori groups to accelerate housing projects in a range of support services. This is in addition to the Housing Acceleration Fund that was announced in March to increase the supply of affordable homes—$350 million of that fund will be invested in infrastructure to support Māori and iwi providers to build homes for whānau Māori.

Tāmati Coffey: Why is the Government making an investment into the Māori Housing Network?

💬 Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Everyone in this House knows that Māori suffer more adverse housing outcomes than other New Zealanders, and a contributing factor to this is not being able to secure capital from lending institutions on whenua Māori. I’m pleased that this Government is partnering with iwi and Māori groups to build, repair, and develop warm and healthy homes utilising Māori land.

Question No. 12—Health

12. to the Minister of Health: What is the total number of staff vacancies across all district health boards, and what specific plans, if any, does he have to address staffing vacancies in the New Zealand health system?

The health sector workforce is one of New Zealand’s biggest. For example, in 2019, there were approximately 76,000 full-time equivalent employees employed by the 20 DHBs. I’m advised that, as at the year ended 31 March 2021, there are approximately 3,668 full-time equivalent vacancies across all DHBs. I note that this includes corporate vacancies and represents less than 5 percent of the total number of full-time equivalents in 2019. In response to the second part of the member’s question, in the short term, all DHBs have active recruitment plans for clinical vacancies. Implementing Care Capacity Demand Management is also a priority for the Government, and we have funded an additional more than 3,000 nurse roles since 2017. In the long term, we are reforming the health system as a single Health NZ organisation, which will allow for national planning for our workforce and allow us to start investing in and building the workforce we need for the future.

💬 Simon Watts: What urgent action will he take to address critical shortage of nurses across district health boards, which number over 1,600, and over 450 at Waikato District Health Board alone?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: By contrast to the previous National Government, this Government committed to increasing the nursing workforce through the Care Capacity Demand Management scheme, and we have funded an additional more than 3,000 full-time equivalent roles as part of that programme. The reality is that the DHBs have been struggling to fill many of those roles on a full-time, permanent basis. They have been reliant on agency nurses to fill those gaps. But that is why we also made a further investment in terms of training and workforce development, but that has been somewhat haphazard across 20 DHBs. That is why one of the benefits of Health NZ is that we can get a coherent, consistent programme of workforce development to start filling those roles on a permanent basis.

💬 Simon Watts: Will the almost half a billion dollars in taxpayer money he is spending to restructure the health sector deliver any additional front-line doctors or nurses; if so, how many?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Part of the $486 million appropriated for the transition to the new health system includes new commissioning funding for both the interim Māori Health Authority and interim Health NZ. That will mean new services—that is to say, services that do not exist now but will exist in the future. How those organisations who are contracted or commissioned to provide those services staff those services will be for them, but they will be additional services. And they will add to the capacity of our health system.

💬 Simon Watts: How can he be confident the Government can deliver COVID-19 vaccinations to every New Zealander by the end of the year, as planned, when the health workforce are struggling to operate with business as usual?

💬 SPEAKER: “Is” struggling, but carry on.

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: Without wanting to tread on the toes of my very good colleague the Minister for COVID-19 Response, the Hon Chris Hipkins, what I can say is that, because of the very fine planning done by those responsible for it, we are ahead of our planned target achievement for the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out, and we remain confident that we will fulfil our vaccination target as required by the end of the year.