Oh, look, apologies for the delay. Good afternoon. I want to give you a brief overview of what I will be doing over the two-week recess. Tomorrow evening, I will be in Auckland presenting an award to the Taite music awards. On Thursday, I’ll be travelling to Hastings to meet with Ngāti Kahungunu. Next Thursday, I will be speaking at the Anzac dawn service in Auckland, and on Saturday 27 April, I will be speaking at the commemoration of the Rwandan genocide. Other media advisories on relevant activities over the recess will follow.
Today, Cabinet signed off on the 2019 well-being Budget. Budget 2019 will continue to show that the Government is maintaining a strong focus on the economy and running the books responsibly in the face of slowing global growth. As well as being prudent economic managers, we are going further by tackling long-term challenges and, of course, as we’ve indicated in our Budget priorities, looking to break the cycle on issues like mental health, domestic violence, and child poverty. We’re focusing on the health of our environment and transitioning to a sustainable low-emissions economy.
What we’ve signed off is a culmination of months of well-being work by officials and Ministers working across portfolios for better outcomes. It is a new approach to the development of a Budget, which is about creating a New Zealand current and future generations can be proud of. Obviously, you’ll need to wait until 30 May for the full picture, but as usual we will be looking to make pre-Budget announcements before then; I just won’t be making any of them today.
Number of things on the agenda, so I’m happy to take questions.
Look, you’ll forgive me, I hope, for not commenting on that case. It absolutely remains the Government’s view that it would be preferable if this case were not in the public domain. For that reason, I won’t be commenting further on it, with one exception, and that is to make special mention of the domestic New Zealand media. I think the decisions that have been made over a period of time by various outlets and journalists has not only been responsible; I think it’s been exemplary, and I’m sure I speak on behalf of successive Governments when I say thank you.
Those are decisions for them. All I know, of course, is that, as I’ve said, the New Zealand Government maintains a position that it would be better not to have this case in the public domain, and I won’t be commenting any further on it.
Certainly, it remained our view that it would be better for it not to be in the public domain, and, obviously, that was our focus and the basis of our communication. Again, though, as I say, decisions have been taken that were not our own, and I won’t be commenting any further on decisions made by others.
The Foreign Minister’s given quite a lot of detail about a special operations unit which has been working in Iraq and Syria to try and gather information and save her. Are they still there? Are they still in Iraq and Syria?
Again, I simply will not be commenting any further. I accept the interest, and so information has been put into the public domain based on the fact that this information is now out there and the case is now public, but beyond that I will not be commenting.
Our preference, of course, was that this case not be in the public domain full-stop, and therefore you’ll appreciate and forgive me, I’m sure, for not commenting further.
How many days ago did the Red Cross come to the Government and say they were thinking of naming her? Has there been enough time for the Government to make those objections heard?
Our view—as has been stated here, that position was made known. In terms of the timetable around that, that would be a question for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Again, this is the position of the Government. Information has been put in writing to media and in the public domain, but beyond that we are of the view that it would be preferable for this case not to be in the public domain.
We’ve stuck to our timetable. While I won’t get into the specifics of different decision-making points, we’re sticking to our plan for information and the final decision of the Government to be released in April.
Did the New Zealand Government reconsider its ransom policy after the Labour -New Zealand First Government came into power? I understand the previous National Government did when news of Louisa Akavi—
I’m not going to comment on any elements of the Budget. If you have any specific question relating to transport policy, please feel free to put that to the Minister of Transport.
That, in my view, has not changed. I’m not, at this current point in time, willing to be drawn individually on that policy, but it’s remained unchanged.
Some of the families of other victims of the Islamic State have felt let down by their Governments—James Foley’s mother said she felt let down by the US Government because it didn’t pay a ransom. Has the New Zealand Government let down Lousia Akavi?
You thanked New Zealand media earlier when you talked about this case. Do you believe—you didn’t mention international media. Do you believe that the Red Cross’ decision had anything to do with pressure from international media?
Again, and that’s simply jurisdictional. You know, this is—in terms of New Zealand media, that’s where that relationship obviously has been directly with successive Governments. All right.
When will Cabinet officially sign off on KiwiBuild’s recalibration? Phil Twyford said that it was coming soon. I just want to get an indication of timing around that.
Again, decisions around targets we’ve said will be rolled into the decisions around the KiwiBuild reset. Once those decisions have been made, we’ll release them. OK, all right. Last one.
I understand there’s a discrepancy between the last sighting that the ICRC had of Louisa Akavi and the last sighting, last lead, that the New Zealand Government has had. Are those all squared—the December and January sightings?