Estimates Debate — In Committee

Buckle in, folks, I’ve got a bit to tell you, OK? Standing Orders provide for 11 hours of debate on the Estimates. There are nine hours and 11 minutes remaining in the debate. The House has given leave to organise the debate by portfolio, so there will be no sector-specific debates. All Votes are available for debate, but only specific Ministers will be available each day, to speak to the indicated portfolios only. So the Government has indicated that—[Interruption] I’ll look at you, OK? I’ll look at you.

The Government has indicated that the Minister for Māori Development, the Minister of Police, and the Minister for Economic and Regional Development will be available today. Each debate will be led by a call from the chairperson or a member of the committee that considered the Estimates most closely related to the Minister’s portfolio. The debate expires after 11 hours, at which point questions will be put that the Votes stand part of the schedules and on the provisions of the Appropriation (2021/22 Estimates) Bill.

The time in the debate has been allocated to parties on a proportional basis, and may be taken as parties see fit during the debate. New Zealand Labour has four hours 54 minutes remaining. New Zealand National has two hours 46 minutes remaining. The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand has 44 minutes remaining. ACT New Zealand has 47 minutes remaining. Te Paati Māori has eight minutes remaining.

The Estimates debate should be relevant to the Government’s current spending plans, as contained in the Estimates of Appropriations. A compendium of the reports of select committees on the votes is available on the Table. Finally, I do urge members, when seeking to take a call, to stand up and seek the call. So the question is that the Votes contained in the Estimates of Appropriations for 2021 stand part of the schedules.

Māori Development