Labour are so well organised and so comfortable in the polls that they could blow the opportunity to grill the government during question time:
Grant Robertson: Is the Minister aware that only two businesses in the survey rated the Government’s performance on job creation as outstanding, and when will he be calling Cameron Slater and David Farrar to thank them?
Hon STEVEN JOYCE: That is a pathetic question.
http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1017630
I was driving through Tokoroa today when Question Time started, and I nearly ran off the road with Question 1. Bill English was on fire.
Especially when asked about confidence in ministers by Grant Robertson:
All I can say is that the Prime Minister has more confidence in his Ministers than the deputy leader of the Labour Party has in his leader.
The PM gave Labour’s Mr Invisible a lesson in why you don’t ask deliberately vague primary questions in Parliament.
Classic. Shearer was lost for words, and Lockwood joined in the fun.
Play of the Day.
Crusher schools the two “stars” of Labour and the Greens in one smooth smackdown. A hard welcome to the front bench for Socialist Cindy from The Crusher.
Jacinda Ardern is going to have to do better than this in order to retain her number 4 spot. Trevor Mallard was probably contemplating his pending trip to Auckland to attend sports awards when he isn’t even the sports spokesperson, rather than protecting the precious ego of Socialist Cindy.
The whole point of Question Time is to ask questions of minister and to get answers. Russel Norman seems to think that the point of asking questions is to ignore the answer and immediately tweet something completely different nanoseconds after he sits down.
Now if you listen to the answer from Tony Ryall you can see that Russel Norman is actually lying.
Of course his loyal adherents simply retweet his bullshit without even knowing how wrong his tweet is.
A couple of questions after David Parker got schooled by John Key it was the turn of Socialist Cindy, Jacinda Ardern, for a wee lesson in front bench politics as she took on Paula Bennett.
Lockwood Smith is going to get real sick of explaining simple parliamentary procedures to Labour’s front bench star.
“Questions can’t state things, questions have to ask things”
I think Labour are going to have to assign Trevor Mallard to run interference for Socialist Cindy else she’s going to end up being slaughtered.
Labour decided to use David Parker to attack the government over the Westpac Farms, formerly owned by the Crafar family sale. It was a poor choice and John Key smacked up David Parker comprehensively.
It seems that Labour’s new qualification criteria is that you live here…I wonder what they will do when James Cameron decides he wants to live elsewhere.
Only a fool like David Parker would try to say that it was better for the farms to stay in the ownership of a broke farmer and his inbred family than get some good capital investment.
There is also an interesting point of order from Winston Peters, who appeared to slur his words and his wig is clearly askew.
Maurice Williamson followed this up after with his smackdown.
I see that the usual stooges and shills for Labour are already preparing the ground for David Shearer’s shellacking at Question Time by suggesting that it is not that important to perform well in the house. But if question time doesn’t matter – why did Labour make such a song and dance about it when Brash was the National Leader? This is one of many examples.
from Lianne Dalziel:
The bottom line is that Dr Brash does not like asking questions in Parliament, because he finds it demeaning. He thinks it is a bit beneath him to come to Parliament and ask questions. Here he was today in Parliament, large as life, and there was not one single question on the Order Paper from the Leader of the Opposition.
I think there is a reason for that, too. When he gets up to ask a question, he is not very good at it. Own goals are his particular forte.
They even lined up former Clark staffers to write opinion pieces in the Herald:
Dr Brash, it seemed, had everything on his side – a rallying cry over racial issues that resonated with voters, the promise of more barn-burning speeches to come, and a Government threatening to haemorrhage over the foreshore and seabed issue.
Yet in the most public face of our democracy, he was conspicuously absent.
In March, Parliament held 10 question times. During that month, and at the height of his post-Orewa prominence, Dr Brash contributed less to question time than Winston Peters, Peter Dunne, Rodney Hide or Jeanette Fitzsimmons.
He spoke less than his deputy, Gerry Brownlee, his predecessor, Bill English, or the person many pick as his successor, Simon Power.
March was a tumultuous time for the Government, but Dr Brash asked the Prime Minister only two primary questions and five supplementary questions. In total, she answered 75.
Further, since the Budget speech in May, Dr Brash has been responsible for only four of the 156 primary questions to be asked and a mere 14 of about 780 supplementary questions.
Nobody could accuse him of hogging the limelight, though some would wonder why he hasn’t.
Dr Brash’s “where’s Waldo” act is certainly not typical of other Opposition leaders in New Zealand – remember the commanding performances of Jim Bolger, David Lange and Mike Moore – or overseas.
…Dr Brash can reduce (though not eliminate) the risk of looking bad in next year’s leaders’ debates. Practice makes perfect, and he has a ready-made practice ground waiting for him in Wellington most Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
He may have to swallow some pride and take some hits from the Prime Minister, but that is the price of taking responsibility for his party’s fortunes, especially in the rough and tumble world of New Zealand’s increasingly presidential election campaigns.
If Don Brash doesn’t get used to the cut and thrust of Parliament’s question hour now, he runs a significant risk of consigning his party to three more years in opposition during the next election campaign.
And Peters used to rib Don Brash for his house performances describing him as ‘fearless’ and ‘the great debater’.
Hon. RICK BARKER: I want to know why Don Brash is not here taking the lead for the National Party in the Wednesday debate. Why was he not here today asking questions?
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member knows he is not allowed to refer to the absence of members. He will desist.
Hon Trevor Mallard: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I ask you to clarify your ruling. I think the Minister might have made a mistake when he said that Don Brash was not here to take the lead, but it is appropriate for him to say that he is not taking the lead in this debate.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member clearly made a reference to his not being here.
Hon RICK BARKER: I stand corrected. The point is that Dr Don Brash is not leading the debate this afternoon for the National Party. Neither was he leading question time for the National Party. It is quite obvious that the leadership of the National Party is absent. It seems that the National Party leadership has pressed the mute button, not the play button.
So when you hear from Labour this time round that Question Time and debates in the house are only for those tragics who reside literally and metaphorically inside the beltway, then know too that they are lying and their own words and history betray their lies.
Question Time and parliamentary debates are important, we know this because Labour made them important.
Cunners gets a good slap from Bill English
