1. Dr DON BRASH (Leader of the Opposition) Link to this
to the Prime Minister
Does she have confidence in the Minister of Energy, Minister of Transport, and Minister responsible for Climate Change Issues; if so, why?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister) Link to this
Yes; because they are both hard-working and conscientious Ministers.
Why yesterday, and as recently as this morning, did the Prime Minister continue to have confidence in Mr Parker in those portfolios, and can we take if from her acceptance of his resignation this morning that her judgment yesterday was wrong?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
What the member can take from it is the old adage that if one acts in haste one repents at leisure.
What message does the Prime Minister intend to send to New Zealanders when she protects the Cabinet position of Mr David Benson-Pope, who misled Parliament, but required the resignation of Mr David Parker, who has readily admitted his mistakes?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
I set out my views yesterday on the seriousness for an Attorney-General in making the mistake that Mr Parker did. After further consideration overnight, Mr Parker has determined that he should not hold any warrants.
How can she have confidence in the Ministers she has appointed to those portfolios today when all the appointments involve recycling Ministers into portfolios in which they have failed previously?
Jeanette Fitzsimons Link to this
Does the Prime Minister have confidence that her new Minister of Energy will implement the Speech from the Throne delivered last November and prioritise energy from renewable sources, given her recent comments to the press supporting coal-fired power stations?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
I have great confidence in the Minister of Energy. I also happen to believe that coal is part of the mix in the New Zealand power supply. In respect of that particular station, I have passed no view on whether it should proceed. I actually told the Southland Times that itwas a commercial matter for the company.
Jeanette Fitzsimons Link to this
Does the Prime Minister have confidence that the new Minister of Energy will be able to turn round New Zealand’s current trend where renewable energy is decreasing every year as a proportion of electricity generation; and does she support reversing that trend so that renewable energy grows as a proportion of total electricity generated?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
Of course the Government, like the member, wants to see the proportion of renewable energy grow. Unfortunately, we are not living in eras of the past where any river could be dammed at any time to achieve that. It has to be done through the more difficult route of getting planning permission for things like wind energy, which has not proved terribly easy.
Jeanette Fitzsimons Link to this
When the Prime Minister said that New Zealand needed coal-fired power plants because the weather did not always come to the party, was she meaning the recent droughts in Canterbury and yesterday’s Cyclone Larry in Queensland; and will she be advising her new Minister responsible for Climate Change Issues that changes in the weather mean we should reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and take climate change more seriously?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
I would love to see us reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, but frankly, if it is a choice between New Zealanders going without power and having a coal-fired power station to give it to them, I know what I am going to choose.
Hon Dr Michael Cullen Link to this
Is there any evidence that periods in New Zealand of low rainfall and lack of wind can be entirely be ascribed to climate change?
Sue KedgleyWhy, if the Government is serious about reducing our carbon emissions to 1990 levels, is the Minister of Transport, and the Government, supporting the building of new motorways that will significantly increase traffic growth and, therefore, carbon emissions, as well as our dependence on oil?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
New roading is part of the mix of solutions to a number of the local transport difficulties. I also am one who has considerable faith in technology. I know other countries are considerably more advanced than we are with flexi-fuel cars, triflex cars, and bio-fuels, and I hope that is a road we will be able to go down in greater haste.
Rodney HideWill the Prime Minister deny to the House that she has received new facts since yesterday that caused her to reassess David Parker’s suitability to be a Minister of the Crown in her Government?
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK Link to this
I have not received any new information, nor about the member, today.