Oral Questions for Thursday 29 August 2024

Questions to Ministers Hon CARMEL SEPULONI to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: Does she stand by her statement, "Our Government will not tolerate people who accept the Jobseeker Support benefit but refuse to uphold their obligation to seek a job - it is not fair on hardworking Kiwis who pay their taxes that go towards those benefit payments"; if not, why not? Dr HAMISH CAMPBELL to the Minister of Health: What actions has the Government taken to improve the lives of New Zealanders, and their families, who are impacted by cancer? TAMATHA PAUL to the Minister of Police: Does he stand by his statement that he doesn't "think there is systemic bias in the police at all"; if so, how does he explain findings released by the Police that being Maori makes you 11 percent more likely to be prosecuted compared to Pakeha for the same offence? Hon WILLIE JACKSON to the Minister for Social Development and Employment: How are her employment policies going to support New Zealanders in to work, given that the Reserve Bank's August Monetary Policy Statement predicts that unemployment will rise to 5.4 percent? MARK CAMERON to the Associate Minister for the Environment: What recent announcements has he made relating to significant natural areas? JAMES MEAGER to the Minister of Police: By how much have Police foot patrols increased under this Government? LAN PHAM to the Minister for the Environment: Does she stand by her statement that "It's getting that balance between the actions that we take, and environmental protection ... we consider that the balance had swung too far towards environmental protection at the cost of not being able to get things done"? Hon Dr DEBORAH RUSSELL to the Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills: Does she stand by her statement that Te Pukenga is a "financial mess, drowning in debt of over $250 million"; if so, why? DANA KIRKPATRICK to the Minister of Forestry: What action has the Government taken in respect of forestry and the clean-up of the East Coast? CUSHLA TANGAERE-MANUEL to the Minister of Health: Does he stand by his statement that there is a health "workforce crisis"; if so, how does he respond to senior medical officers of Tairawhiti, who have said, "Recent national directives setting recruitment restrictions and hospital budget cuts make our situation even worse"? CAMERON BREWER to the Minister of Revenue: What announcements has he made on tax? TAKUTA FERRIS to the Minister for Maori Development: Is it acceptable that Whakaata Maori has not had an increase in baseline funding since 2008?