Brownlee vs. Turei

Interesting how het up the left get.

Question time today started with Metiria Turei hauling Gerry Brownlee over the coals over his desire to dig up the conservation estate. She has just asked a detailed question about the relative value of minerals versus conservation. In response, Brownlee said… nothing. He did not even rise to respond, just shrugged his shoulders and refused to answer. …

I have never seen this happen before, and with good reason. Question Time is the primary means by which Ministers are held to account by Parliament. If they can simply refuse to answer – not claim public interest immunity (which is open to some examination and challenge), not quibble over Ministerial responsibility (another favoured tactic), but simply refuse and stand mute – then that task is made impossible. Both Brownlee and the Speaker have failed our democracy today.

I’ve noted before that Idiot never seemed concerned with Wilson’s speakership, which resulted in questions “addressed” but not answered. That was a serious undermining of our democracy, but strangely having the Labour government not answerable to parliament didn’t seem important to the left at the time.

I would love to say that the boot is now on the other foot, but that’s simply not the case. The transcript reveals that Brownlee had answered her question – several times poinint out that she was wrong. He pointed out repeatedly that it was not his intention to plunder large areas of our most valuable land, rather to identify small areas that were classified higher than they should be that might be useful for mining in future.

Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister of Energy and Resources) : The purpose of the stocktake is to identify areas of land in schedule 4 where the conservation values are relatively low but mineral potential high. The Government will consider removing those areas of land from schedule 4 so that environmentally responsible mining can take place on very small sections within that land. New Zealand is a mineral-rich country, and responsible mining of low-value conservation areas can contribute significantly to job and economic growth in this country.…

Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: I have no desire, nor has the Government, to “pillage our most valuable conservation land”.

Yet, after several rounds of questions she was still sticking to her line that the government was out to destroy land that the public wanted protected.

Metiria Turei: When the Minister said in his speech that “… New Zealanders need to know that this country is also well endowed with natural resources.”, is it not the case that Kiwis already know how blessed we are, already know that our magnificent conservation places are like gold to the New Zealand economy, and are aghast at his attempts to plunder those areas for fool’s gold and dirty coal?

I think Brownlee was wrong to ignore the question, as stupid as it is. He should have raised a point of order and asked for an apology since the member was clearly calling him a liar.

Had he been successful and she refused, she might have even been thrown out.

Either that, or he could have said something brief like “answered previously”.

It’s worth reading the entire transcript for the to and fro (including Labour MPs trying to defend the previous speaker in a have-your-cake-but-eat-it-to situation), but the final section is informative.

Mr SPEAKER: There is absolutely no need for that. The Minister is not required to take the call to answer the question. Had the question been a clear-cut, clear question, the Minister of course would have answered it, because the public would condemn the Minister for not doing so. I invite the honourable member Dr Kennedy Graham to look at the Hansard of his colleague’s question. It would be very informative.

Metiria Turei: Is the Minister now willing to admit that the World Bank report upon which he relied to justify his agenda of mining in our most valuable conservation lands does not actually support his mining agenda; to the contrary, it provides clear evidence as to why that would be a bad idea for New Zealand’s economy, in that it is our treasured heritage, our natural forests, and our rich and fertile soils that make us a wealthy nation?

Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: In answering questions this afternoon I have made it clear that the Government has no intention of mining high-value conservation land. From the member’s question, she does not seem to want to accept the answers given. It is no wonder that she gets no answers to her questions.

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