Question time should be shifted to to the weekends, with attendance voluntary. This hour would be better spent doing something useful. Like a long lunch, getting a haircut or those annoying little errands that they never get time to run.

Climate Change (New Zealand Superannuation Fund) Bill – Eugenie Sage
Electronic Transactions (Contract Formation) Amendment Bill – Paul Goldsmith
Dairy Industry Restructuring Amendment Bill (No 2) – Hon Damien O’Connor
Employment Relations (Statutory Minimum Redundancy Entitlements) Amendment Bill – Sue Moroney
Education (Breakfast and Lunch Programmes in Schools) Amendment Bill – Hone Harawira

Is that Harawira’s first Member’s bill to be drawn? It will be interesting to see how he handles it.

I haven’t read the whole Hansard, but it appears that Labour sort of supported it – David Cunliffe said in Labour’s first speech on the first reading.

Labour will be supporting this Advanced Technology Institute Bill to set up the Advanced Technology Institute. We think it is a small step in the right direction, but not by any means enough.

http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Debates/Debates/3/d/b/50HansD_20120913_00000016-Advanced-Technology-Institute-Bill-First.htm

But then they (and Greens, NZF and Mana) voted against it.

They compain incessantly about National not doing anything for manufacturing but oppose them doing something.

10. PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister of Transport: What involvement, meetings or contact did his predecessor have with Infratil, NZ Bus or Snapper Services regarding Auckland’s integrated ticketing system, and what involvement did the Government have in the decision to include Snapper in the project?

Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister of Transport) : I am advised that my predecessor did not have any meetings, contacts, or involvement with Infratil, NZ Bus, or Snapper specifically on Auckland’s integrated ticketing projects. He did meet with these organisations. On 12 December 2008 he met with Infratil. On 19 February 2009 he met with NZ Bus regarding the Public Transport Management Act. On 18 June 2009 he met with NZ Bus at the launch of the Wellington flyer service; on 3 March 2010 he met with Lloyd Morrison. And on 24 June 2011 he met with NZ Bus at the launch of its fleet replacement programme. It is possible that integrated ticketing was raised at these events. Ministers, though, had no involvement in the decision to include Snapper in the Auckland integrated fares scheme.

Then on Tuesday, it turns out that Steven Joyce did in fact meet with Snapper, and within days Snapper is allowed back into the AIFS ticketing project, despite having earlier lost the tender to Thales.

11. PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister of Transport: Did Hon Steven Joyce meet with the Snapper CEO in March 2010 and discuss Snapper’s desire to enter the Auckland public transport integrated ticketing scheme; if so, why did he not include this in his answer to Oral Question No 10 on 27 June 2012?

Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister of Transport) : I certainly acknowledge that there was a meeting, and what I was advised was that a search of the previous Minister’s diary showed a 3 March meeting with Mr Lloyd Morrison. I am advised that no other name appeared in the diary. Mr Twyford clearly knows that the Snapper Chief Executive Officer, Mr Szikszai, accompanied Mr Morrison to that meeting, because it is in the official information released from the New Zealand Transport Agency. Had I been advised of that, I would have included it in my very extensive answer to the House on 27 June.

Phil Twyford: How can he reconcile his statement that there was no ministerial involvement in the decision to allow Snapper to roll out its card on the Auckland buses with the letter to Steven Joyce from Snapper’s Chief Executive Officer, Miki Szikszai, in which Mr Szikszai said: “Thank you for taking the time to meet … last week. … I understand that you have met with Geoff Dangerfield and Brian Roche”—from the New Zealand Transport Agency—“following our meeting and that your expectations are that, given Snapper’s assurances, NZBus should be free to proceed on its current plan to implement Snapper equipment … in Auckland.”?

Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: Well, it is not uncommon for Ministers to meet with the chief executive of their ministry, nor of the board of that agency, as well. So that is quite in order. As for the so-called Snapper letter, I think it needs to be put in the context of Ministers determining what policy is, and in this case it was to ensure that there were open standards across the country that would accommodate all sorts of front-end cards. It is worth noting that that Snapper letter also outlines a number of other concerns that Snapper had, including the expression that “In effect this creates a state-owned monopoly with the power to exclude others from the market. I am not sure if this was the intention, but it most certainly is the effect.” What is behind this is an intention from Snapper to become the main contractor. It lost that contract. The New Zealand Transport Agency has it. It is important it does have it, because as people forward-pay their fares, there is a significant banking-type operation, and the balances positive from that should accrue to the users. They do so through the New Zealand Transport Agency.

So, putting aside the spin that it was about open standards, clearly Brownlee’s original answer was wrong. Does that constitute misleading the house? Who decides? Is misleading the house a serious thing or not?