Oral Questions for Wednesday 26 July 2023

Questions to Ministers CHRISTOPHER LUXON to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all of his Government's statements and actions? HELEN WHITE to the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage: What announcements has she made about supporting Auckland's St James Theatre? SIMON COURT to the Minister of Transport: Does he agree with former Minister of Transport Hon Phil Twyford, who said in March 2018, "Solving Auckland's traffic gridlock is also important for the rest of New Zealand with congestion in the city between 2015 and 2017 estimated to have cost the economy between $1.3 billion a year in lost productivity", and has congestion become better or worse since then? NICOLA WILLIS to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement in relation to the decision not to progress his tax proposal for Budget 2023 that "I wouldn't have put so much work into it if I didn't think that it had merit. But I also am a team player"; if so, approximately how many hours of officials' time went into developing these tax proposals that were rejected? SHANAN HALBERT to the Minister for Infrastructure: What progress has the Government made in addressing New Zealand's infrastructure deficit? CHRIS BISHOP to the Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment: What is the total amount spent from the December 2017 quarter onwards on Emergency Housing Special Needs Grants to date, and is she satisfied with the Government's performance on housing? IBRAHIM OMER to the Minister for the Public Service: What recent announcements has he made about strengthening New Zealand's cyber-security readiness and response? Hon LOUISE UPSTON to the Minister for Child Poverty Reduction: Does growing up in a benefit-dependent home contribute to child poverty; if so, is she concerned by the increase in children living in benefit-dependent homes under this Government? RICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Does she agree it's unfair that young people on the benefit are eligible for almost $44 less every week than people 25 and up? ANAHILA KANONGATA'A to the Minister of Police: What recent milestones have been reached on the roll-out of the Tactical Response Model? Hon MARK MITCHELL to the Minister of Corrections: Does he stand by his statement, "we have safely reduced the prison population"; if so, why? Hon PHIL TWYFORD to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs: What action is the Government taking to ensure Kiwi consumers are treated fairly by their banks, insurers, and credit unions?