﻿Mr SPEAKER: Question No 2, Ron Mark.
RON MARK (Deputy Leader—NZ First) to the Minister of Defence:
Does he believe that our Navy is sufficiently resourced
to protect our fisheries from foreign poachers; if so, why?
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Health)
on behalf of the Minister of Defence: Yes;
because the navy is meeting the patrol days that are set
by the agencies such as the Ministry for Primary Industries
and the NZ Customs Service.
As reported in last year’s annual report, 90% of pre-planned patrols
were achieved and 100% of response tasks were undertaken.
Ron Mark: What assurances can he give NZers that our navy
is sufficiently crewed and resourced to patrol our fisheries properly,
when in 2015 our entire navy spent only 33 days at sea
on fisheries patrol, and so far in 2016 it has spent only 9 days—
is that what was planned?
Mr SPEAKER: Order! That is enough of the question.
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: The 33 days that Mr Mark refers to
actually only refers to Ministry for Primary Industries tasking,
so he is not giving a full picture of what was going on.
In actual fact, the navy does much more patrolling than that
in the exclusive economic zone. So far in this calendar year—
contrary to what he has just asserted—all ships have actually
completed 137 days within the exclusive economic zone,
and last year actually spent 639 days there.
So, actually, what he is saying is incorrect, completely.
Ron Mark: I seek leave to table the answers from the Minister’s office that gave us—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member will resume his seat.
Those answers are published. They are available to all members.
Point of order, Ron Mark—and it had better be a fresh point of order
if he wants to stay for the balance of question time.
Ron Mark: Well, this is one about protecting MPs from what are—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! The member will resume his seat.
He sought leave to table answers to written questions;
they are published and are available. If the member feels that he is being misled
in some way in the answer, then there is another appropriate course of action,
and I suggest that he becomes more familiar with Speakers’ rulings
and the Standing Orders.
Ron Mark: How can our fisheries be adequately protected
from foreign poachers raping and pillaging them
when the navy’s entire fisheries patrol has dropped from 6 months—
from his own answers, his own answers— in 2013 to only 1 month in 2015?
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: That is absolutely, totally incorrect.
As I have just said, all ships spent 639 days
in the exclusive economic zone last year, so I am surprised—
with Mr Marks’s defence experience as an army cook,
he would have been better asking about the Southern District Health Board.
[MEMBERS LAUGH]
Tracey Martin: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker.
That is a completely inappropriate answer with a completely inappropriate attack
on a member of Parliament asking a reasonable question.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! As soon as the Minister transgressed
in the last part of his answer, I rose immediately and ceased the answer.
I could not act until those comments were made,
but when I consider the tone of the question and the answers
that have previously been given to the member, it is clear
that there is a substantial difference in the figures being supplied
by the member and by the Minister. I cannot stop that.
Ron Mark: Well, how does the Minister explain providing answers
to written questions— these ones here, Minister—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Just ask the question.
Ron Mark: —which say one story, and now he trots along to the House
and tells everyone—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Questions must be shorter.
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: I hope Mr Mark could read his recipe book
better than he does the answers to written questions,
but I can only go on the answers supplied by the Ministry of Defence.
Ron Mark: Must be an early Christmas. Is the Minister saying,
in his statements to the public, that our inshore patrol vessels,
which he now says he is going to sell, are not up to the job,
something that is disputed by those naval staff who designed them,
and if he is saying that, why is it then that—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! The questions are too long.
That is now leading to a second supplementary question.
The first question can be answered by the Hon—
Ron Mark: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker.
Why are you being harder on me today than you are on other people?
Mr SPEAKER: The member will be very lucky to continue in the Chamber,
the way he is behaving. Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman can answer the first question.
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: No, I am not saying that.
Ron Mark: Noting his statements to the public today,
will he not admit that the navy is under resourced and that currently
we have two of the inshore patrol vessels mothballed
and that they will not be sailing anywhere
because we do not have the naval staff to crew them?
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: No.
Hon Phil Goff: Is the Defence Force correct when it has told
the select committee every year since 2012,
the year in which the navy lost—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Again, bring the question to a conclusion.
Hon Phil Goff: —a quarter of their complement, that the reason
that the inshore patrol vessels are not being put to sea is
skill and staff shortages.
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: I would have to go back
and check the transcript of that select committee,
because I have found from experience that it is always—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! We do not need that part.
Hon Phil Goff: I seek leave to table the transcripts
of the financial reviews by the select committee in 2012,
2013, and 2014, which say just that.
Mr SPEAKER: No. Again, the Standing Orders were modified
at their last revision, and those papers are now available to all members.
Ron Mark: What is the point of announcing to the United Nations
and the people of NZ that this Government intends establishing
a new marine reserve in the Kermadecs when the fact is this Government
cannot even patrol our current fisheries, cannot crew our current vessels,
and is totally ineffective?
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Actually, what the member is asserting
is totally incorrect. As I have said, we can patrol the areas.
And, frankly, he seems to be the only person who thinks
the Kermadec reserve is a bad idea.
Hon Phil Goff: How can the Minister’s primary answer be correct,
when he said that the Defence Force was meeting the needs
of the customs agency, when both the Customs Service and Police
are recorded in the annual report this year as saying that the Defence Force,
the Navy, was not able to meet their expectations for the provision
of resources like inshore patrol vessels?
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: There are two different issues there.
The Navy is absolutely meeting their contracted patrol days with those agencies.
Mr SPEAKER: Question No 3, Todd Muller.
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