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PM's Presser 18/4/11: Some You Win, Epsom You Won't Say
PM's Presser 18/4/11: Some You Win, Epsom You Won't Say
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The press gallery gave PM John Key an enthusiastic grilling this afternoon as he declined to say whether he wanted an (as-yet unselected) National candidate to win the Epsom seat in the upcoming election. The leader of current Government support partner ACT, Rodney Hide, currently holds the seat, and if he lost it his party would likely exit Parliament. Key was similarly noncommittal about campaigning for the electorate vote in the seat held by United Future's Peter Dunne.
At the beginning of the press conference Key announced plans for a events centre in Greymouth as a memorial to those who died in the Pike River mine and other mining disasters. He also announced a $1.6 million dollar package for Christchurch tourism promotion and that New Zealand's royal wedding present will be a donation of $10,000 to the Christchurch quake appeal.
Matters discussed included other possible help for Christchurch (such as power subsidies and health policy), inflation figures (lower than expected with, Key said, a good underlying situation), local government insurance coverage, the Government not releasing its legal advice on the use of police against protestors on the oceans, succession changes of the monarchy, previous decisions on collapsed company South Canterbury Finance, possible cuts to Working For Families andconsultation with Iwi on offshore drilling and milk prices.
The PM said the controversial file sharing bill was passed under urgency because of "congestion on the order paper". He hoped the new law would see more to help artists and those who produce content make a living, but said he was not responsible for his MPs' "electronic knowledge or lack of" displayed during the debate on the bill.
Presented with numbers on rising early childhood costs Mr Key said he "would be surprised if that was right across the country". The number came from the Statistics New Zealand data for the CPI.
There were also questions on the CTU President Helen Kelly's recent summary of events around The Hobbit, which suggests that the Equity action against the production was not a factor by the time of the unrelated law change. The PM denied misleading anyone, and said without the law change regarding the status of contractors the films would not have been made in New Zealand.
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