Subj : What led Green MP to get in Minister's face in Parliament? To : All From : News Date : Thu May 02 2024 12:49 pm Green MP Julie Anne Genter delivered an unprecedented outburst in Parliament last night, walking up to National MP and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey and berating him at his desk. But what prompted her to lose her cool and take what her own party called a "clearly unacceptable" approach to getting her point across? The official record of Parliament, Hansard, lays out how the incident unfolded, while Genter's comments could be heard on the official broadcast of the House. The incident came during a transport annual review debate, shortly after Doocey made a remark to Labour MP Rachel Boyack about Labour cancelling "all the roads for six years". That followed repeated needling about the previous Labour-led government, in which Genter was an Associate Transport Minister for three years, having allegedly done nothing for roads according to both Doocey and Transport Minister Simeon Brown. The debate moved into discussing roads in the South Island, and in particular the Hope bypass in the Tasman District, which Doocey claimed had been held up and had "no plan" around it during the previous administration. This claim seemed to provoke Genter - in an extremely unusual move - to go over to Doocey in the House, smack a document on his desk and ask him repeatedly if he had "read the report" while waving her arms. At this point, Deputy Speaker Barbara Kuriger ordered Genter to resume her seat at least twice. "It's not appropriate to get out of one's seat to go and have an argument with somebody on the other side," she said. Genter subsequently apologised. "It was the last thing I wanted to do, to intimidate anyone in this House," she said. The exchange in detail What follows is the official Hansard transcript of what was said immediately before and after Genter's outburst. It does not capture what Genter herself said as that was to the side of the main discussion in Parliament. Transcript RACHEL BOYACK (Labour-Nelson): Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, I will take a short call and I have some specific questions to ask the Minister about transport projects in the South Island, because I think I might be the first member to speak tonight from the South Island. Shanan Halbert: Not many, if any. RACHEL BOYACK: Yeah, exactly. If you look at the new Government policy statement, you'll see there is not many, if any projects in the South Island. Grant McCallum: Ashburton Bridge. Hon Matt Doocey: Can't you read? RACHEL BOYACK: I can read-very well, actually. And there's two-there's two. One of which is in my electorate, the Hope bypass. The question is- Grant McCallum: Oh, there you go. What are you complaining about? What's your problem? Congratulate the mayor. RACHEL BOYACK: It's really interesting when people think they know about my electorate; you're welcome to come and have a look and I'll show you around. My comment is around the fact that we had two projects in the previous Government policy statement because our Regional Transport Committee had identified two priority projects, one of which is the Hope bypass-and I've just referenced that the reason the Hope bypass was needed in the first place was that there was a significant amount of housing expansion put in place by the Tasman District Council in the previous National Government as a housing area, and no transport plan. I was shocked when I became the member to discover there was literally no plan. So we worked quite hard over the last three years to get the plan and to get it into the GPS. Very concerned on that project to see that it's actually going to be consented three years later than was originally planned. So not being consented until around 2026, not being built until around 2029-which is a lot later than what we had planned. So I'd like to know, Minister, you know, why is this project being delayed? Hon Matt Doocey: Because you cancelled all the roads for six years. RACHEL BOYACK: And the second question, Mr Doocey, the second question is the Rocks Road project, which has been-[Interruption] CHAIRPERSON (Barbara Kuriger): Miss Genter! Miss Genter! Please resume your seat. OK, we're just going to have some order here. Sorry, Rachel Boyack, just we're going to have some order. We know that transport is one of those touchy subjects. But if we want to get the best out of the Minister, interjections are fine, but it would be good if we could actually just ask the questions and let the Minister answer them and have fewer interjections rather than shouting matches. And it's not appropriate to get out of one's seat to go and have an argument with somebody on the other side. RACHEL BOYACK: So I'd like to be able to just tell the story. I'll tell the story about Rocks Road. One of the things that we did, it had always been connected to another transport project in Nelson, which meant we'd only get it if the Southern Link was built. We separated it out for a reason so that we could actually look specifically at that project. One of the issues we have-my question to the Minister-is we have cyclones, we have floods in Nelson, and that road closes. The residents of Nelson who came to a public meeting of mine that I held last week said to me what if they were told when their houses were flooding to travel to inner city Nelson using that road to get to safety and it was closed. What is the Minister going to do about the resilience of Rocks Road, which is over 100 years old, constantly closes. Why is it not in the GPS or in any of the documents from Waka Kotahi? And what is he going to assure the people of Nelson that he will do to improve the safety and resilience of that road? Hon SIMEON BROWN (Minister of Transport): Oh, look, Madam Chair, I thank the member for her questions and I note there's a number of projects in the South Island which are a priority: the Hope bypass, the Ashburton Bridge, and the Woodend-Belfast-the Pegasus motorway and Woodend bypass. And I'd also make the point that actually there is proposed investment around improvements around bridges which is a critically important issue in in the South Island. And also the increased maintenance which not only is that critically important to our roading network across New Zealand, but for our State highway network and the resilience that is that is needed, particularly in the South Island. In terms of the issue in regards to Rocks Road, I mean ultimately the New Zealand Transport Agency Board is responsible for the prioritisation of projects which are put forward. Rachel Boyack: Based on your GPS? Hon SIMEON BROWN: Yeah. And we have outlined the roads of national significance as being a priority within the GPS. But ultimately, the board of the New Zealand Transport Agency needs to make decisions looking at what are all the priorities and what has been put forward by the regional land transport plans and from the councils, and ultimately that is the board's decision to weigh those issues up. Hon Scott Simpson: I raise a point of order, Madam Chair. A few minutes ago there was an incident that occurred in this Chamber, in this committee, that I have never seen before; it was unprecedented in my experience in this Chamber. I invite you to report back to the Speaker about the actions that took place. To have a member rise from her seat, stride across the House and then confront in a most intimidating manner a member of this Chamber, I think, is utterly unparliamentary and warrants further investigation and sanction. CHAIRPERSON (Barbara Kuriger): Thank you, Mr Simpson. I will undertake to take that course of action. Thank you. The Green Party has said Genter's actions were "clearly unacceptable". Genter later apologised in the House. "What has absolutely motivated me is a desire to share information that I believe would be of benefit to everyone in this House, and I'm very sorry if in my passion to do so I was intimidating," she said. "That was not my intention." 1News understands a complaint to Parliament's Privileges Committee was being considered. --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A44 2020/02/04 (Windows/64) * Origin: S.W.A.T.S BBS Telnet swatsbbs.ddns.net:2323 (63:10/102) .