﻿Mr SPEAKER: Question No 8, Jacinda Ardern.
JACINDA ARDERN (Labour) to the PM: Does he stand by his response yesterday,
when asked whether his Chief of Staff was trying to stop him talking about the flag during speeches,
that “Far from that being correct, I think record numbers of people are turning up”?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (PM): Yes.
Jacinda Ardern: How many people who turned up to the NZ Gynaecological Cancer Foundation
fund-raiser in Auckland last Thursday expected him to give a speech on the flag
and to then be asked by him to raise their hands if they were against changing it? [Interruption]
Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order!
I have not called the PM; I am just waiting for a bit of silence.
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I do not know, but I do not know how many people who went along that evening
expected to see a fashion show with people in lingerie and the likes who were there.
I do not know how many people who went along expected to pay $10,000 to come
and have afternoon tea with me, to help raise $20,000 for the charity.
I do not know how many people who came along that night expected to stand in a queue
wanting to take photos—but all of those things happened that night.
Mr SPEAKER: [Interruption] Order.
Supplementary question, Jacinda Ardern.
Jacinda Ardern: When he was trying to conduct a straw poll on the flag in the middle of a cancer fund-raiser,
can he confirm stating “Go on, I won’t judge you.” and then proceeded to individually berate people who put their hands up?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No, that is not correct.
[MEMBERS SHOUT]
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Supplementary question, Jacinda Ardern.
Jacinda Ardern: Can he confirm that he also used his speech at a cancer fund-raiser
to tell the audience that those who argued against change, on the grounds that soldiers died under the flag,
were “misguided” and then proceeded to lecture the audience on NZ military history?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I am not sure whether I used the word “misguided”, but what I have always said
is that, actually, in my opinion, people fought for the values and principles that underpin NZ,
including human rights, women’s rights, and democracy.
I also gave a very long speech about biologics, about Herceptin, and about why this Government
was doing something for people with cancer, when the Labour Party completely failed to do so.
Denis O’Rourke: Can the PM assure NZers that Gwynn Compton, his social media adviser,
who is donkey-deep in “change the flag”, is not campaigning at the taxpayers’ expense; if so, how?
Mr SPEAKER: Either of those two supplementary questions, the Rt Hon PM.
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I have no evidence that he is doing that.
Jacinda Ardern: Will he take his chief of staff’s advice
and stop using events such as cancer fund-raisers, business awards, and even a student achievement ceremony
to lecture people on his pet project of changing the flag?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Firstly, that is not the advice of my chief of staff,
and, secondly, no, I will continue to talk about the fact that as a country,
national pride and patriotism is important.
And if I was the leader of the Labour Party and had a policy of changing the flag—
Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. At the beginning of the week,
you issued a series of instructions to both those who ask questions and those who answer them.
The PM began a sentence that said “If I was the leader of the Labour Party”. He is not,
he never will be, and he should have been sat down.
Mr SPEAKER: Well, I—[Interruption] Order!
I accept that that part might have been inaccurate in the answer given, but when I think about the tone
of the question, which was “When will the PM stop lecturing etc.”, I thought that that was a question
with a little bit of emotion in it, which gave a bit more of a wide berth to the PM in his ability to answer it.
Mr SPEAKER: Question No 9, Dr Shane Reti.
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