Last week’s Beehive Diaries covered Health Minister Andrew Little’s punishment for an unparliamentary answer to one of National health spokesman Shane Reti’s written questions.
This week, Reti tightened the screws on Little, winding the health minister up with a snarky supplementary question that evoked Little’s “angry Andy” moniker from oppositiondays.
After a forceful answer from Little about emergency department waiting times, accusing National of under-investment in health while National was in office, Reti asked Little, “What is the waiting time for anger management?”
Little didn’t take the bait and responded with an answer about National’s non-attendance at a health summit.
Environment Minister David Parker liked to criticise the Resource Management Act for its telephone book length - some 900 pages.
There was much mirth this week when Parker unveiled his replacement to the RMA which came in at a whopping 833 pages (with a second bill at 58 pages).
Beehive Diaries has some good news for Minister Parker who might be looking to trim the bill to a more manageable length: one eagle-eyed legal trainspotter noticed that one part of the bill actually repeats itself.
Sections 104 and 109 “Plans must be consistent with regional spatial strategies” are both identical.
The double-up was a mistake of the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO), the Government’s bill-drafters. It’s not the first time they’ve landed in a drafting doozy. During the speed of the pandemic a mix-up on PCO’s end led to the wrong bill being sent to Parliament leading MPs to pass the wrong bill into law. Whoops!
