Oral Questions

1. to the Minister of Police: What recent successes have Police had in relation to combatting organised crime in our communities?

Just this month, we’ve seen a number of successful raids on criminal activities as part of Operation Cobalt. On 4 September, a search warrant was executed at the address of a patched Killer Beez member in Counties Manukau district. Several firearms were found, including a loaded cut-down .22 semi-automatic rifle which the serial number had been removed from. On 1 September, the Auckland City district Operation Cobalt disruption team executed a search warrant in Remuera. A search of a vehicle located an AK-47 - style semi-automatic firearm with two full magazines. A patched Mongols member was charged with possession of a restricted weapon and possession of ammunition.

💬 Dr Emily Henderson: What is the focus of Operation Cobalt?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Operation Cobalt, which commenced in June this year, is aiming to deliver a nationally coordinated response to unlawful gang behaviour by enabling districts to prevent, supress, disrupt, and, where appropriate, prosecute offences through sustained intelligence enablement and enforcement activity.

💬 Dr Emily Henderson: What national successes has Operation Cobalt seen at suppressing criminal activity?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: To date, Operation Cobalt has seen 441 search warrants executed, 225 warrantless searches undertaken, 155 firearms seized, and 10,125 criminal charges filed.

💬 Hon Mark Mitchell: Why did the Labour Government not implement Operation Cobalt four years ago, as proposed by the National Party, and does he accept that there’d be a large number of victimisations that would have been avoided had they put Operation Cobalt in place four years ago?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The member hasn’t been paying attention. Operation Tauwhiro was our precursor to Operation Cobalt. If he hangs on a moment, he’ll hear a bit more about it.

💬 Jo Luxton: What specific successes have police had in fighting harm caused by drugs and organised crime in Ashburton?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Operation Mastiff was terminated between 6 and 8 September in the Canterbury district. The biggest drugs operation Ashburton has seen in a very long time saw more than 160 charges laid against 18 people associated with gangs, following a series of search warrants. Seizures included cash, methamphetamine, cannabis, LSD, codeine, unidentified pills, firearms, and ammunition.

💬 Dr Emily Henderson: What other successes have police had in seizing assets from criminals?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Operation Samson began on 8 November 2021 and centred on the importation of methamphetamine. On 8 September, 12 Harley-Davidson motorcycles connected to a Hells Angels member were seized from a container as part of the ongoing asset recovery investigation; 16 other vehicles; and over $400,000 in cash was restrained following the termination of Operation Samson, which continues to investigate people and entities connected to the West Auckland Nomads chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.

💬 Dr Emily Henderson: How do these results build on previous police operations that were targeted at combating organised crime?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: An excellent question, and I’m sure Mark Mitchell will be listening intently to the answer to this one. Police seized firearms parts and ammunition through targeted enforcement as part of Operation Tauwhiro. At the conclusion in June 2022 of Operation Tauwhiro, they had executed 1,043 search warrants, 765 warrantless searches had been undertaken, 1,804 firearms had been seized, 1,457 arrests had been made, and 53 kilograms of methamphetamine had been seized.

Question No. 2—Social Development and Employment

2. to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Does she stand by her reported statement from November last year that she would scrap the warrant-to-arrest sanction today if she could; if so, what is the barrier to removing the warrant-to-arrest sanction?

Yes. As I said yesterday, I believe the welfare system should not be used as a tool for the justice system. Our first focus was on removing sanctions that had the biggest impact on the wellbeing of children, and as a result we’ve seen an 87 percent drop in sanctions that impact children since June 2017. I received advice on the warrant-to-arrest sanction last year which outlined that further cross-agency work was needed before consideration could be given to addressing this sanction. Since then, I’ve decided to pause the work in order to prioritise the significant amount of work this Government has under way to improve the wellbeing of New Zealand families. This work includes the ongoing review of Working for Families, which has already resulted in an increase in incomes for 346,000 families; increasing access to hardship assistance like dental grants; and expanding successful training and employment programmes, including the Training Incentive Allowance, Mana in Mahi, and He Poutama Rangatahi, which has resulted in record numbers of exits off benefit and into work.

Ricardo Menéndez March: Does she think it’s acceptable that under this Government, more children have been affected by this sanction due to it being applied to their caregivers, and, if not, why is the sanction still being applied?

💬 Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: The majority of people who have had this sanction applied don’t have children—although there are, of course, some, but the majority don’t have children. As I said, also, what we’ve seen is a massive reduction in the number of sanctions that have been applied to whānau who have children. And, also, it is not the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) that makes a random decision to apply this particular sanction; it is instigated by Justice and Police, and MSD then lawfully have to carry out the sanction.

Ricardo Menéndez March: Does she agree with the Welfare Expert Advisory Group that “The current benefit system is based on one of conditionality and sanctions. We heard overwhelmingly [throughout] our consultation that such a system diminishes trust, causes anger and resentment, and contributes to toxic levels of stress. The application of obligations and sanctions in New Zealand … is problematic.”, and, if not, why not?

💬 Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: We committed at the beginning to reviewing sanctions and to getting rid of the excessive sanctions, and we’ve started that work: two of the most excessive have been removed already. I certainly think there’s room to do more in the future in this space, but we never committed as a Government to removing every sanction or obligation that is in place in the welfare system.

Ricardo Menéndez March: Is she or is she not committed to scrapping the warrant-to-arrest sanction so that we stop a growing number of people being stripped of their income, including families with children?

💬 Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: As I said, that work has been paused.

Ricardo Menéndez March: Does she agree with Labour MP Jacinda Ardern, who in 2013, when debating and voting against the introduction of the warrant-to-arrest sanction by National, said, “[The] bill tears up the idea of a social contract. The message it sends is that the job seeker’s role is to look for work, and the Government’s role is no longer to ensure that there are jobs, to train, to educate, and to help you move into work. No, the Government’s role is simply to sanction … when you fail.”, and, if so, why is this Government continuing to sanction people in the welfare system rather than providing support?

💬 Hon CARMEL SEPULONI: As I said, there has been an 87 percent reduction in the number of sanctions that are applied to whānau with children. I absolutely agree with what the member is saying and the Prime Minister had previously said in Opposition, and, in fact, said the same things. The issue is that when you are a Minister, you have a range of work that needs to be done and you’ve got to make decisions around prioritisation and what will happen and when that will happen. We as a Government have focused on particular areas where they have the biggest impact, in particular where we can get money into the pockets of households that need it, where we can invest in the upskilling and training that will help whānau get ahead, and those things have been my priority as a Minister. It means I haven’t been able to get on to everything, perhaps, that the member thinks I need to do, but that will be always the case for any Minister, with any portfolio.

Question No. 3—Health

3. to the Minister of Health: How many people are there in total on the waiting list for first specialist assessment and the surgical waiting list?

Every day, people are added to the health waiting lists, and every day people are taken off waiting lists because they have had their assessment or treatment or otherwise been discharged. I’m advised that as at 31 July 2022, 140,982 people are on the national waiting list for first specialist assessment, and 69,874 are on the national waiting list for surgical and other treatment. However, the meaningful performance measure of how responsive the system is is a waiting time of more than four months. For first specialist assessment, this is 37,239 people, and for surgical and other treatment, it’s 29,189 people. I just note that there is a two-month delay in reporting these statistics. Accordingly, 31 July is the most up to date information currently available. It should be noted that COVID-19 has caused unprecedented disruption to hospital medical services, and this has been compounded by extraordinary levels of flu infection in the winter just gone. As the hospital system has dealt with the level of demand for medical services alongside COVID and flu infections over the last three years, it has managed that demand by ensuring those with urgent need get their treatment and those who can be deferred have had their treatment postponed. Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand, in anticipation of assuming responsibility for managing expanded waiting lists, established a clinical task force in May this year to advise on steps to accelerate the reduction of waiting lists. That task force has made a number of recommendations to Te Whatu Ora to address the waiting lists, and Te Whatu Ora is expected to have an implementation plan for those recommendations shortly.

💬 Dr Shane Reti: Has he or his officials given any instructions to reduce specialist waiting lists in hospitals by declining GP referrals, and, if so, what were those instructions?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: No.

💬 Dr Shane Reti: Why, then, do answers to written questions show more than 1,000 GP referrals to specialists in the Canterbury region have been declined every single month in the last year?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: The work that Te Whatu Ora is doing to manage waiting lists has followed the work of the specialist clinical task force following clinical guidelines, and those lists are being managed down. What GPs do, and the basis on which they manage their patients, I cannot comment on.

💬 Dr Shane Reti: Is it the Minister’s best effort that in response to an urgent letter I wrote to him this week about a 50-year-old man who is in intense pain waiting nearly a year for double hip replacements, and who is collapsing almost daily, resulting in bilateral fractures of his cheekbones, that, amongst other things, the Minister’s office’s suggestion was that he raise a complaint with the Health and Disability Commissioner? Is that really his best effort for this man?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: As is now common with this member, he, of course, relays a small number of facts, and leaves out a number of other facts. I did receive a communication from that member—a two-sentence letter with an email message attached from a family member of, I think, the person he describes. That email message concluded with a very strong plea for that member not to breach the privacy of that person and publicise that person’s particular circumstances because of the condition they are in. That member has breached the basis on which that communication has been provided to him.

💬 Dr Shane Reti: Does he accept that with all the money he has wasted on health restructuring and bureaucracy over the past two years, he could have reduced hospital wait-lists so that Kiwis in pain like this man do not have to wait nearly 12 months for the operations that they need?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: What I can say is that this Government has increased funding for our hospital services by 44 percent since the time we’ve been in Government. We’ve not only significantly increased health spending, we’ve increased investment in health infrastructure after nine years of underfunding of health, underpaying our nurses, and failing to invest in health infrastructure. I’m very pleased with the work that Te Whatu Ora is now doing to pick up the extraordinary demands placed on our system, both as a consequence of COVID and because of the recent extraordinary flu season.

💬 Dr Shane Reti: Doesn’t the explosion in hospital wait times show that the Minister has failed in a core duty to New Zealanders, and, if not, what do the long wait times show?

💬 Hon ANDREW LITTLE: What that member’s question shows is a complete and utter ignorance of actually what has happened in this country in the last three years. So we have had a health system that, as a consequence of that member’s party in Government, was under-resourced, its people were underpaid. We have rectified many of those problems, and we have had a system that has led the world in responding to COVID and has now recently responded to the worst winter flu season in history in this country. I’m very proud of what our health workforce and our health system has done in the extraordinary circumstances they’ve been in, and I’m very confident that Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand, with the powers that it now has, and the context in which it now operates, will make good progress in reducing those waiting lists.

Question No. 4—Māori Development

4. to the Minister for Māori Development: What announcements has he made about supporting the future of the Māori media sector?

On 7 September 2022, I announced the Māori Broadcasting Strategy, which sets out the Government’s plan, over the next three years, to futureproof the Māori media sector. This includes setting clear outcomes and priorities for the sector, improving coordination with the wider public media system, and supporting workforce development. The strategy builds on our $40 million investment in Budget 2022 to support Māori media to transition to a new public media environment, and prepare it to increasingly deliver a fuller range of Māori content.

💬 Arena Williams: How will the Māori Broadcasting Strategy contribute to the revitalisation of te reo Māori and the Government’s Maihi Karauna goals?

💬 Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Te reo Māori revitalisation is at the heart of the outcomes and priorities in the Māori Broadcasting Strategy. Māori media plays a vital role in normalising and revitalising te reo Māori—the Māori language—as recognised in the Maihi Karauna. It contributes to the societal conditions needed for the language to thrive, while also transmitting directly into homes and communities where whānau can access culture and language most directly. Last week, we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Māori language petition at Parliament, which called for the recognition of the Māori language. The livestreaming of the event on Whakaata Māori, and recording on iwi radio, shows how far we’ve come, as a nation, on these issues.

💬 Arena Williams: What investments has this Government made in the Māori media sector, and how will this support the Māori Broadcasting Strategy?

💬 Hon WILLIE JACKSON: The strategy identifies that Māori media requires increased funding to ensure a strong and sustainable sector that can deliver on a wide range of high-quality content across traditional and emerging platforms. The Government has made a start on this through our last two Budgets, with Māori media receiving $42 million in Budget 2021 and then $40 million in Budget 2022. This will position the Māori media sector well within the new public media environment, and grow its capacity and capability so it is ready to deliver on the wider aspirations of the Māori Broadcasting Strategy.

💬 Arena Williams: How will the Government’s work to create a new public media entity and the Māori Broadcasting Strategy complement one another?

💬 Hon WILLIE JACKSON: That’s a good question; and the Government is making a significant investment in the creation of a new independent and future-focused public media entity that will help to support the Māori media sector. This expectation is made clear through the requirement of a charter that makes specific mention of Māori language, culture, stories, and perspectives. A key focus of the Māori Broadcasting Strategy is improving coordination with the wider public media system on Māori media content, including shared arrangements for the commissioning and distribution of content. We need to ensure that the Māori media sector is on a strong footing in this new public media environment; and that’s why we invested $40 million in Budget 2022 to grow the sector’s capacity, capability, and the delivery of an innovative content.

Question No. 5—Justice

5. to the Minister of Justice: Is she confident the justice system is effectively responding to the recent surge in destructive retail crime and increased levels of violent crime?

To the first limb of the question, yes. As at 9 September, police have taken 251 prosecutions and 104 youth referrals for ram raids, since January, out of 391 ram raids, at a rate of approximately 90 percent. In addition, to support an effective response across all of Government, multiple initiatives have been taken, including the rolling-out of nearly 1,000 fog cannons so retailers have an immediate deterrent to theft; we have established the National Retail Investigation Support Unit; we’ve launched a Better Pathways package that aims to place more young people in education, training, or work, to drive down youth crime; and we are progressing significant legislation through the Criminal Activity Intervention Legislation Bill and the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Amendment Bill to give police additional powers to combat organised crime, building on the enactment of the Firearms Prohibition Orders Legislation Act.

💬 Hon Paul Goldsmith: What does she say to a shopper at St Lukes mall who told Radio New Zealand, yesterday, after a daylight smash and grab, “[the] Police are doing what they can, but it’s the justice system … holding them back.”?

💬 Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: To that shop owner, I would say that across this House collectively, there is widespread shared concern about what we are seeing with this recent trend of a particular crime. And what I would also say to that shop owner is that across all of Government, we are taking both a preventative and rehabilitative approach, as well as a punitive approach where those offences have already occurred.

💬 Hon Paul Goldsmith: What’s her response to another St Lukes shopper who said, “If you do something and you get away with it, sweet as, why wouldn’t you do it again?”, and is she concerned about public perception that there are few consequences for youth offenders?

💬 Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: In my original answer, I set out the police prosecution rate for ram raids, in particular, this year. There’s been about 391. Of those, there have been 251 prosecutions and 104 youth referrals since January. This is a system that is responding to an emerging and immediate issue, and we are providing the wrap-around support that the justice sector requires.

💬 Hon Paul Goldsmith: Does she agree that the justice system needs to balance the desire to rehabilitate criminals alongside the need to denounce criminal acts, to demonstrate serious consequences for serious crimes, and to provide justice for victims?

💬 Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: As I just stated, yes, we do believe in those principles, and, indeed, that is what our justice system provides for.

💬 Hon Paul Goldsmith: Does she think the justice system is effectively denouncing heinous acts and providing justice to victims, when a male convicted of raping four females receives nine months’ home detention for his crimes?

💬 Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: As the member across the aisle will be well aware, we don’t discuss the particular outcomes and determinations of the judiciary; I’m not responsible for those outcomes. However, what I will say is that we have a Sentencing Act here in New Zealand. The Sentencing Act that is in place today is the one that, too, was in place when that member’s party was at the helm of Government. This is a justice system that has served New Zealand well. There are always improvements that can be made. We are always looking at what we need to do as a Government to respond to emerging issues. And we are, indeed, doing that.

💬 Hon Paul Goldsmith: Is she worried that a recent case, and others similar, signal a green light to young men that sex offending is accountability-free as long as you’re under 18 and promise to be good, while victims are left to deal with the trauma?

💬 Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: No. Further, I do want to just make an acknowledgment of the work that my colleague the Hon Marama Davidson is doing in family violence and sexual violence. There is a substantive amount of work that is going into ensuring that the victims of heinous crimes are being supported, and that, indeed, we, as a Government, have got the settings right when it comes to the justice sector, and also in terms of any other further additional measures that need to be wrapped around to provide support for victims.

Question No. 6—Immigration

6. to the Minister of Immigration: What recent reports has he seen about the Government’s work to enable pathways to residence for migrant communities?

I’m pleased to confirm that this week I have seen reports confirming that 100,000 new Kiwis can now call New Zealand home as over half of all the 2021 resident visa (RV) applications have been approved. The people who have had their 2021 RV applications approved have critical skills to contribute to our economy, including over 3,700 health workers and over 11,300 construction workers. This visa provides migrants with certainty about their future here, giving them a pathway to residency while also helping to reunite families who were separated by the border restrictions that prevented COVID-19 from entering our community. Over the coming months, we can look forward to thousands more critical workers being able to commit to their future in New Zealand through RV 2021.

💬 Lemauga Lydia Sosene: How is the processing of 2021 resident visa applications tracking compared to forecasts?

💬 Hon MICHAEL WOOD: Interest in the 2021 resident visa has exceeded expectations, but we remain on track to meet our target of processing 80 percent of those applications by June of next year. More than 95 percent of phase one applications have now been processed, with 15,000 people approved across phase one and two over just the last month. These new Kiwis will contribute to our communities and help to relieve some of the pressures arising from global labour shortages.

💬 Lemauga Lydia Sosene: What other steps is the Government taking to open pathways to residence for migrant communities?

💬 Hon MICHAEL WOOD: In further good news this week, from 3 October, I’ve announced that registrations for the Samoan quota will reopen, and, from 5 October, registrations for the Pacific access category will reopen. Both of these categories have been closed due to COVID-19, and reopening them recognises the historic relationship between New Zealand and our Pacific neighbours. This is a major milestone as both are longstanding visa categories that enable people from our Pacific partner countries to become residents of New Zealand.

💬 Lemauga Lydia Sosene: How many people will have a pathway to residence thanks to the reopening of the Samoan quota and Pacific access category?

💬 Hon MICHAEL WOOD: Collectively, these pathways will provide for up to 5,900 people to become residents over the next two years, helping to reduce the impact of global labour shortages and to grow our economy. The 5,900 places over the next two years include unused places from the 2020-21 ballots which are being redistributed. The Pacific access category unused ballots will be reallocated across the 2022-23 years, while the Samoan quota ballots will be reallocated over the four years from 2022 through to 2025.

💬 Lemauga Lydia Sosene: How does the reopening of these pathways to residence support the Government’s broader work to rebalance the immigration system?

💬 Hon MICHAEL WOOD: The immigration rebalance provides pathways to residence for a range of critical roles, while streamlining settings to make the application process more straightforward for migrants, ensuring better settlement outcomes and reducing migrant exploitation. This is a Government that is committed to lifting wages and conditions for all workers and making New Zealand a more attractive destination for migrants to live and work in. The progress that we’ve made on opening pathways to residence via RV 21, the Samoan quota, and Pacific access categories reflects this commitment and our ongoing progress to reconnecting New Zealand.

💬 Dr Gaurav Sharma: Supplementary?

💬 SPEAKER: Question No. 7 in the name of Erica Stanford.

💬 Hon Member: Point of order, Mr Speaker.

💬 Dr Gaurav Sharma: Supplementary question?

💬 SPEAKER: Oh, sorry. Dr Gaurav Sharma—sorry.

💬 Dr Gaurav Sharma: Thank you. What does the Minister of Immigration say to the critical publication by the left-leaning World Party of Socialist Revolution on Government’s work to enable pathways to residence for migrant communities, where it says that migrant workers face discriminatory policies in New Zealand?

💬 Hon MICHAEL WOOD: I haven’t read that publication, and I don’t agree with its assessment.

💬 Dr Gaurav Sharma: What does the Minister say to offshore stuck migrants who, despite having valid visas, were stopped from entering New Zealand and are now not eligible for the pathways to residence for migrants?

💬 Hon MICHAEL WOOD: I would say to people in that situation that most of New Zealand’s visa settings are now reopened and that people who wish to apply either for temporary work visas can do so through the accredited employer work visa scheme or can apply for a student visa. I’m sure that many of those people, should they explore those opportunities, will find pathways into New Zealand.

Question No. 7—Education

7. to the Minister of Education: Does he stand by all of his statements and actions?

Yes, in the context in which they were made or undertaken.

💬 Erica Stanford: Can he explain why his actions to improve attendance over the last five years have seen the number of unenrolled students double to 8,500?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The decline in attendance in New Zealand schools started in around 2015, and it has continued to decline in the time that we have been in Government. There are a range of factors that contribute to that. One, of course, is that the Attendance Services, which operate under relatively long-term funding contracts, have not been delivering the level of performance that we would expect of them. We’re currently in the process of reviewing that model.

💬 Erica Stanford: How can he blame the changes made nine years ago to the Attendance Services when the number of children chronically absent for two or more terms has increased from under 7,000 when he became the Minister to 41,000 in 2019, before COVID even hit?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Yes, I am concerned about those numbers and, as Minister of Education, it is my role and it is my job to make sure that we are doing more to make sure that we are targeting that. Ultimately, there are a whole lot of complex social issues that sit underneath those numbers. It is not my job as Minister to get those kids to school. That responsibility sits with their families. Having said that, we do want to see those kids re-engaging in education, and you’ll see that over the period of time that we have been in Government, we have continued to increase emphasis on that particular issue and we’ll continue to do so.

💬 Erica Stanford: Can he explain how he expects the Blue Light South Auckland attendance service to make any meaningful and effective change to the lives of over 2,000 unenrolled young people on their books when their attendance officers have a caseload of 200 students each?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: We’ve increased the funding for the Attendance Services since we became the Government to address exactly those kinds of issues, after the funding for those services was effectively frozen during the time that National was in Government.

💬 Erica Stanford: Can he explain, then, in light of that answer, why, in his half-decade as the education Minister, the average time taken to get an unenrolled student back to school is now 113 days in 2022, up from 84 days in 2017, despite his claims of all this additional funding?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Because the Attendance Services are not performing as we would expect them to, and we are doing something about that.

💬 Erica Stanford: What responsibility does he take as the Minister of Education over the last five years for the fact that every single one of the young people aged under 14 referred to the South Auckland cross-agency Social Wellbeing Board for being involved in ram raids were unenrolled or chronically truant?

💬 Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I am concerned about that. I’m also concerned about the fact that in terms of the data produced by the Social Wellbeing Board, 90 percent of the most at-risk young people in New Zealand identified by the Social Wellbeing Board have a parent who is in prison or who has been in prison. There is a range of complex factors underneath youth crime. There are no single causes and there are no single answers. What we have to do is make sure we’re approaching that from a range of angles, and that is exactly what this Government is doing.

Question No. 8—Justice

8. to the Minister of Justice: What further changes is the Government proposing to ensure greater transparency for political donations?

On 8 September, I introduced a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) to the Electoral Amendment Bill to provide a narrow and targeted solution to a loophole identified in the law. The SOP makes an amendment to the bill to clarify the definition of “party donation” in the Electoral Act and adds an offence for failing to comply with the existing obligation to transmit a political donation to the intended recipient.

💬 Rachel Brooking: Why does the definition of a “party donation” need to be clarified?

💬 Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: As recent decisions have highlighted, they’ve paved the way for entities not involved in the governance and management of a political party to receive donations for the benefit of the party without having to declare it. The amendment clarifies that a party donation is when a person donates to a political party or any other person with the intention that the donation is for the benefit of the party. It is important to fix this before the 2023 general election, so that political parties cannot structure their financial affairs in a way that allows them to legally avoid having to disclose their political donations, and to uphold the transparency of the political donations regime.

💬 Rachel Brooking: Why does an offence need to be added to the Act?

💬 Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: Currently, the Act requires every person to whom a candidate and party donation is sent, to transmit it to the candidate or party secretary within 10 working days. However, if they fail to do so, there is currently no corresponding offence in the Act. In line with other offences in the Act for similar behaviour, we are proposing a new offence with a maximum fine of $40,000 with a complete defence available for anyone who can demonstrate that they had a reasonable excuse for non-compliance.

💬 Rachel Brooking: How can the public and experts in electoral law have their say on the proposed changes?

💬 Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: I’d like to particularly just acknowledge the Justice Committee for reopening submissions on the bill following the introduction of the SOP. Submissions are still open, and close on 3 October. I do encourage interested members of the public—particularly public law experts and those in the field of electoral law and political parties—to continue to engage the select committee process on this SOP.

💬 Rachel Brooking: What other changes to the political donations regime are being considered?

💬 Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: The targeted changes contained in the SOP and the wider bill will increase transparency and improve trust and confidence in our electoral system, and will be made before the 2023 general election. In addition to this is the independent review of electoral law, which began earlier this year and has been tasked with considering the policy settings and rules for political financing and electoral expenditure, alongside a range of other areas. The Government looks forward to receiving the final report from the independent panel by the end of November 2023.

Question No. 9—Corrections

9. to the Minister of Corrections: Does he have confidence in the Department of Corrections, following a report that a policy of no face-to-face visits has now been in place for around a year and is currently impacting around 5,000 inmates?

Yes, I have confidence in the Department of Corrections, and the assertion in the second half of the member’s question is wrong. There are visits occurring in half of our prisons. Three more prisons, hopefully, by the end of October will be able to have face-to-face visits, and the balance will when it is safe to do so.

💬 Rawiri Waititi: How can he have confidence when there are currently 1,600 job vacancies across Corrections, including more than 500 prison officers, which has been used as an excuse to deny inmates their rights to face-to-face visits and even audiovisual links with whānau and lawyers?

💬 Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Corrections and the unions have been working for some months now on a recruitment campaign. In August, we had 500 applications. Our daily applications have quadrupled, and we expect by the end of the year that we’ll make quite some progress to fill in those gaps.

💬 Rawiri Waititi: What specific actions is he taking to ensure that the legal rights of inmates are upheld through consistent face-to-face visits and audiovisual links that actually work?

💬 Hon KELVIN DAVIS: My expectation is that Corrections will ensure that the minimum rights of prisoners are upheld.

💬 SPEAKER: Can he answer the question again.

💬 Rawiri Waititi: What specific actions is he taking to ensure the legal rights of inmates are upheld though consistent face-to-face visits and audiovisual links that actually work?

💬 SPEAKER: Yeah, the beginning part hasn’t been addressed—specific actions.

💬 Hon KELVIN DAVIS: Specific actions—I have specifically made it clear to Corrections that the minimum rights of prisoners are upheld.

Question No. 10—COVID-19 Response

10. to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: What recent announcements has the Government made regarding the COVID-19 response?

Last week, the Prime Minister and I announced a suite of changes to our COVID response, including retiring the COVID-19 Protection Framework. New Zealanders now have two simple requirements of them: to wear a mask in healthcare settings, and to isolate for seven days if they test positive for COVID-19. The health advice tells us that with the lowest cases and hospitalisations since February, our population well-vaccinated, expanded access to antiviral medicines, New Zealand is now in a position to move forward.

💬 Tangi Utikere: Why has the Government made these changes?

💬 Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: The most recent health advice tells us that with cases and hospitalisations reducing, our population well-vaccinated, and expanded access to antiviral medicines, New Zealand can take this next step. With the tools that we now have, we can manage the virus without as many requirements on individuals.

💬 Tangi Utikere: Where are masks still required to be worn?

💬 Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: You’re no longer required by the Government to wear a mask anywhere, except in healthcare settings like hospitals, GPs, and aged residential care. In some places, like workplaces, marae, or at events, they may still ask you to wear a mask, but that is at their discretion.

💬 Tangi Utikere: So what protections remain for vulnerable New Zealanders?

💬 Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: I want to acknowledge that lessening restrictions leads to concern among some disabled or immunocompromised people. But I want to reassure those people that we are making these changes because risks have reduced. We now have layers of protection in place: high vaccination rates, high levels of immunity, widening availability of free antiviral medicines, free testing, and free medical or N95 masks.

💬 Tangi Utikere: How do these changes impact our public health response?

💬 Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: It’s important to note that our public health response continues in the background. We continue to monitor and test waste water, have capacity for genome sequencing, scan the international situation, and maintain a level of preparedness for new variants.

💬 Dr Gaurav Sharma: What public apology has the Minister made, or is intending to make, to three women who travelled to Northland last year during lockdown but were wrongly blamed for using false information to obtain permits to travel and were wrongly labelled as sex workers related to gangs?

💬 SPEAKER: In so far as it relates to the primary question and the Minister’s responsibility.

💬 Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: That does not relate to the changes made in the COVID-19 response. What I can say is that where there was a situation of a lockdown in Northland, it was because there was COVID-19 there.

Question No. 11—Environment

11. to the Minister for the Environment: Did he act upon the statement he made on 1 September 2022 and ask “officials to look into the expected number” of farms requiring resource consents for intensive winter grazing compliance; if so, is he aware that, of the estimated 3,500 farms in Southland that intensive winter grazed in 2021, Environment Southland has granted consents to just three?

on behalf of the Minister for the Environment: Yes, I did ask my officials to look into the expected number of consent applications for intensive winter grazing in Southland. The estimate the member refers to is wrong. They advised that only 6.5 percent of Southland’s winter forage crops are at a slope of greater than 10 degrees, which is the slope maximum in the intensive winter grazing module. I’m advised that as of today, Environment Southland has received 11 consent applications, of which four have been issued. There is plenty of time to go. I am further advised that Environment Southland has built an online tool which will allow farmers to easily find out whether they need a consent. Where farmers meet the permitted activity standards and do not need a consent, the tool will provide them with a record of this permitted activity status. Neither Environment Southland, the Otago Regional Council, or Environment Canterbury want to delay the rules applying to intensive winter grazing. They are helping improve outcomes.

💬 Mark Cameron: Is the Minister concerned that an estimated 3,200 farms utilised intensive winter grazing in the Canterbury region in 2021, yet no consents have been granted and only one application has been lodged for intensive winter grazing consent in the past five years?

On behalf of the Minister, if I use the answer to my primary question to that member, in terms of the 6.5 percent of forage crops at 10 degrees or higher, then it’s a hard fact, I think, to try and figure that in your primary question, 3,500 estimated farms are in that catchment area. It’s a small area. The point I’ve made in the primary question is that we’ve got plenty of time and there is help for farmers to put in their consent applications or to determine whether they actually need one.

💬 Mark Cameron: Does the Minister agree that compliance in the Otago region is not much better, given that only three of the estimated 2,000 resource consents required for compliance have been issued as of 23 August 2022?

I’ll refer the member again to the estimate figures that he is using, which are absolutely wrong. I’ve given the percentage of the slope, the 10 percent - plus slope, which kicks in the requirement for consent. Whether it’s in Otago, Southland, or Canterbury, that’s not a large number of farms. The point is that there are tools available with the councils. We’re asking farmers to reach in earlier. We’ve been advised also that councils are ready to process applications and work alongside farmers to complete what’s required of them.

💬 Mark Cameron: Is the Minister concerned that between the Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Greater Wellington, Bay of Plenty, Auckland, Marlborough, West Coast, Nelson, Northland, and Tasman councils, zero resource consents have been issued for the estimated 3,900 farms that intensive winter graze in these regions?

To all those farmers, I ask them to reach out to their councils to help them identify. Each council will have the ability to work alongside the farmers to identify whether they need consents or not. The regulations are very clear. We have time on our side and councils are prepared. The numbers that you’re referring to are an estimate, and they’re probably over-inflated.

💬 Mark Cameron: Point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek leave of the House to table multiple documents received under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.

💬 SPEAKER: You need to describe what they’re about.

💬 Mark Cameron: That is an Official Information Act document sent to all local regional authorities in New Zealand—or several.

💬 SPEAKER: Leave is sought for that purpose. Is there any objection? There appears to be none. They may be tabled.

Documents, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.

Question No. 12—Local Government

12. to the Minister of Local Government: What is the total amount that has been spent to date on the Government’s Three Waters reform programme, including development and communications, and does she believe that this represents good value for taxpayers’ money?

The total amount spent to date is $569 million, and it does represent good value for taxpayers’ money and real benefits to ratepayers. Significantly, $523 million of that total amount spent to date was stimulus funding and was provided to councils during the COVID period to invest in waters infrastructure work. This resulted in 291 kilometres of drinking-water pipe upgrades, 159 kilometres of waste-water pipe upgrades, 101 drinking-water treatment plant upgrades, and 128 waste-water treatment plant upgrades.

💬 Simon Watts: What value have taxpayers got from the $523 million of stimulus funding, given the public still overwhelmingly opposed these reforms?

💬 Hon NANAIA MAHUTA: A lot of value. A lot of work was brought forward to be able to ensure that people continued to be employed and work was being done. For example, the Western Bay of Plenty District Council used their funding to support infrastructure at local marae and papa kāinga housing, enabling them to upgrade their on-site effluent waste-water system or to connect them to council’s waste-water network. The infrastructure’s had a significant impact in these communities to not only minimise environmental effects but also to ensure sanitary conditions for residents. Let’s go on. Waitomo District Council used its funding to upgrade its water treatment plant to meet the demands of their community, which surges during the summer. It allowed for the installation of the new sand filter and dual UV disinfection at the plant, providing improved water clarity and treatment resilience to the drinking-water supply for the community and visitors. In Ōpōtiki, that district council used its funding to upgrade its degraded water supply pipe along Te Rere Pa Road, and this greatly improved the water supply pressure and fire flow to these communities, their facilities, and residents.

💬 Simon Watts: Does she believe it’s acceptable that the Government has spent over $40,000 this year on a communications reset, and why are Kiwi taxpayers paying the price for her Government’s failure to sell three waters?

💬 Hon NANAIA MAHUTA: I do believe that it’s important to ensure that ratepayers have good information, and the amount of funding spent in the communications space enables that.

💬 Simon Watts: Can she explain to the House what a three waters virtual Australian roadshow is, and why it cost taxpayers over $100,000?

💬 Hon NANAIA MAHUTA: I can explain that. And if the member had read the reply to the written request that he received, he would have found out that that amount of money went into ensuring that we could connect councils to a comparative example in Tasmania so that they could learn what another model of a similar nature to what they were seeking looked like. What it enabled, actually, was for councils to connect with real-time information from a comparative example in Tasmania so that they could ask the questions they wanted to ask around the benefits of aggregation.

💬 Simon Watts: Does she believe it’s acceptable that the Government spent almost $15,000 on developing a job description for the CEO of the proposed water entities?

💬 Hon NANAIA MAHUTA: Let’s not misrepresent the amount that was spent and what it was for. The $15,000 spent also went to ensure that a recruitment process was able to be achieved—including interviews—so that job descriptions for newly established water services entities could be created. And when we think about the fact that these are new water services entities of a size and scale where we need to create new job descriptions for CEs that will have a significant role, I do think it’s a fair amount spent.

💬 Simon Watts: What does she say to New Zealanders struggling in a cost of living crisis, seeing that the Government has spent over $16 million on consultants for Three Waters in the last year alone?

💬 Hon NANAIA MAHUTA: I would add that without reform, taxpayers and ratepayers would be paying significantly more over the next 30 years, when our water infrastructure is forecast to require $120 to $185 billion of investment in the network. That money’s got to come from somewhere. If we don’t do anything—if we do nothing—which is what the Opposition is wanting, then ratepayers will be paying more, taxpayers will be paying more, and the Government really doesn’t want to see that.

💬 Simeon Brown: Stop the fake news; stop the fake news.

💬 SPEAKER: Simeon Brown will stand, withdraw, and apologise.

💬 Simeon Brown: I stand; I withdraw and apologise.

💬 SPEAKER: Yeah, and now you’ll do it properly.

💬 Simeon Brown: I withdraw and apologise.