﻿Mr SPEAKER: Question No 2, Andrew Little.
ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the PM:
Does he have confidence in his Minister responsible
for the flag referendum process?
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Acting PM): Yes, I do. In fact I have
so much confidence that I designated him Acting PM
while I was out of the country.
[MEMBERS LAUGH]
Andrew Little: In view of the fact that polls during the course
of the referendum process repeatedly showed that there was no public appetite
for changing the flag, does he now think that spending $26 million
on flag referenda was the best use of public money?
Hon BILL ENGLISH: No, and as the member knows, the PM
is not a poll-driven fruitcake in the way that he is.
[MEMBERS INTERJECT]
On behalf of the PM, I think he would note that,
despite the fact that it was Labour’s policy to change the flag,
the members all voted against it.
Andrew Little: Why does he think it was better to spend $26 million
on a failed flag than on funding a medicine like Keytruda
that could save the lives of NZers with advanced melanoma?
Hon BILL ENGLISH: That does not make much more sense than asking
why it is better to spend money on upgrading the Hercules aircraft
for the NZ Air Force than it is to spend money on the next most popular drug.
The fact is that the Government makes all these decisions in the round,
and the PM makes no apology for the leadership that he showed on this issue,
which led to 43% of NZers voting for a change in the flag.
[MEMBERS INTERJECT]
Andrew Little: What is more important: $26 million on a failed flag
or fixing thousands of State houses that are leaking and mouldy
and making our kids sick?
Hon BILL ENGLISH: The member may be interested to know
that Housing Corporation’s capital expenditure on State houses
in the last 12 months was over $590 million, including—
Hon Member: The kids are getting sick; the houses are mouldy.
Hon BILL ENGLISH: Well, I would agree with them. It has taken
a long time to get on top of the neglect of the previous
Labour Government that left us with tens of thousands of damp,
unhealthy houses. [Interruption]
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Again, the level of interjection that is coming—
and it is coming from both sides of the House—is too loud and disruptive.
Andrew Little: Why was it better to spend $26 million on a failed flag
than on solving burglaries, given the disgraceful fact
that over 90% of burglaries now go unsolved?
Hon BILL ENGLISH: As I said before, with reasonable fiscal management
the Government gets to do a whole range of positive things
for the community at large and for particular groups.
The police have had significant pay increases,
they have had a significant rethinking of their activities,
and they are doing a very good job of getting crime rates
to the lowest they have been in a generation. We can achieve that
as well as having a referendum on the flag.
Hon Judith Collins: Lowest crime rates since 1978. Thank you, NZ Police.
Andrew Little: That will be about the rising prison—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Just ask the question.
Andrew Little: Is he honestly telling NZers that the PM’s
failed legacy project was more important than saving Kiwi lives,
making our homes fit to live in,
and making sure our families are safe from criminals?
Hon BILL ENGLISH: As we have said earlier, when the Government
has sound fiscal management it can spend money on a whole range
of desirable activities. In fact, the debate about the flag
has proven to be the most engaging debate about national identity
that NZ has enjoyed in a long time, and it is just a pity that the Labour Party
took such a partisan political view of it.
Mr SPEAKER: Question No 3.
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