Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
PM's Press Conference 10/7/17: Abuse Inquiry Petition
PM's Press Conference: State Care Abuse Inquiry Petition
Click a link to play audio (or right-click to
download) in either
MP3 format or in OGG format.
Prime Minister Bill English opened today's post-cabinet press conference repeating his praise of property developer Mark Dunajtschik's generosity in gifting a new fifty bed children's hospital to Wellington. This allowed a construction related segue to the topic of region development fund announcements, which will be made for a number of regions this week. English also noted the Lions tour as having demonstrated New Zealand's ability to host large events.
The bulk of questions focused on calls for a inquiry into abuse and neglect in state care. The Prime Minister cited recent efforts to improve child care and the current process for dealing with individual claims as evidence the government shared goals with the complainants. He said he had not seen what an inquiry would achieve beyond these, and that and inquiry would distract and draw resources from these priorities.
Other matters discussed
included Iraq's declaration of victory in Mosul (NZ has yet
to receive any requests for reconstruction assistance),
Winston Peters' call for wool carpet in government buildings
(the PM enthused on the qualities of wool but said
procurement was a matter between manufacturers and buyers),
Auckland homelessness and housing (improving, despite the
City Mission's cry for help), Ngatata Love's knighthood
(safe at least until all legal processes are concluded), the
lack of a G20 statement of North Korea (the US and China
together are what's needed), the Green's proposed water
charges (speculation), the Greens v Winston Peters (the PM
did not judge NZ First's policy because they say all sort of
things, and nothing Mr Peters had said said made the PM
think Peters "is a racist"), and the general badness of any
Labour/Greens/NZ First
coalition.
Scoop
Scoop Independent News
Scoop is NZ's largest independent news source; respected widely in media, political, business and academic circles for being the place on the internet for publishing "what was really said", and for the quality of its analysis of issues.
Eugene Doyle: Has WWIII Started?
Binoy Kampmark: Fencing The Ocean - Australia’s Social Media Safety Bill
Binoy Kampmark: Trump, AUKUS And Australia’s Dim Servitors
Peter Dunne: Dunne's Weekly - The Wrong Answer To A Question That Does Not Exist
Martin LeFevre - Meditations: Perception, Conception And Beauty
Alastair Thompson: On The Publication Of The First NCQG Text 'New Collective Quantified Goal On Climate Finance'