Douglas Roger: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Douglas Roger: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:675;Page:20730] 
10. 
Hon Sir ROGER DOUGLAS (ACT) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: Why despite spending $160 million on the Youth Opportunities package has the unemployment rate for 15 to 19 year olds increased since she became Minister? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 The $160 million for the Youth Opportunities package was aimed at 18 to 24-year-olds in particular. Job placements through Job Ops Community Max industry partnerships and Youth Guarantee were particularly for those who were on the unemployment benefit and aged 18 to 24. It is clear that that has worked. We have seen a decrease in the number of 18 to 24-year-olds on the unemployment benefit from a peak of 23800 in January 2010 to about 16500 now in June. We have seen the number of 18 to 24-year-olds come down in the last 18 months and that is due mainly to the sort of package that has gone in. 
Hon Sir Roger Douglas 
: Given that youth unemployment has hit the roof since youth rates were abolished as is obvious in this chart here which demonstrates when youth rates were abolished and how the youth unemployment rate has gone up when will she act—when it goes through the roof or when it hits the sky? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: As I said to the member we have been concentrating on those who are 18 to 24. We would like to see 16 and 17-year-olds in education or training hence the attention we have given them. What the member might like to look at though—and this is quite interesting—is that the unemployment rate for 16 and 17-year-olds from June 2010 went from 28.5 percent to 33.6 percent so we have seen a dramatic increase in the rate for 16 and 17-year-olds. However the number of 18 to 19-year-olds has been static from June 2010 to June 2011 at 20.7 percent. So there is most definitely a difference between the 16 and 17-year-olds and the 18 and 19-year-olds. 
Hon Sir Roger Douglas 
: Could the Minister confirm that the reason she has not acted is that last week’s National polling showed that it is more popular for her to keep sitting on her hands than actually doing what is right? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: I shall not go to that member’s level of personal sort of attack but I will say that there has been a real focus on unemployed people in New Zealand. We have seen that kind of work going on as far as those Youth Opportunities are concerned. You know we are seeing that 90 percent of those who have done a Job Ops programme have not gone back on a benefit and that is most certainly a step ahead. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Before I call the Hon Sir Roger Douglas I do not want to be unfair but I say to the Labour front bench that I just wish you could see yourselves. That was so discourteous. 
Hon Sir Roger Douglas 
: Given that the Minister appears unable to see the link between the abolition of youth rates and youth unemployment as shown on this graph could she advise whether this is caused by the fact that she truly does not understand the link between the two or by deliberate blindness? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: The answer— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Far be it from me to be the one who protects the Government but I think you recently ruled out as not being appropriate supplementary questions things that had far less assumption and a lot less irony in them than that did. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The point I would make is that I have not actually ruled them out; I have normally let the Minister deal with them but if the questioner appeals to me for assistance I normally point out that the question was actually not in order. But I would rather not deprive the Minister of the opportunity to utilise such a question. 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: This Government has put a huge investment into working with those young people who are on the unemployment benefit and who really felt the effects of the global recession and a tight labour market. We are seeing positive results from that. We have fewer 18 to 24-year-olds on the unemployment benefit than we had 18 months ago. What we are doing is working. We now need to concentrate more on those 16 and 17-year-old “neets”—hence the weekend’s package—and as I say we are cautiously optimistic. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Far be it from me to relitigate in my current circumstances but yesterday you ruled out a question when there was a suggestion that a Minister lacked confidence. You intervened yourself. On this occasion there was an intervention when a Minister was accused of being deliberately blind or similar and you did not intervene. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I will hear the Hon Simon Power the Acting Leader of the House. 
Hon Simon Power 
: Just a point of clarification. If the member is referring to his own interjection yesterday— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: No—Annette’s question. 
Hon Simon Power 
: I am sorry; I misunderstood. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: If I have done that I apologise to the member—if I have been inconsistent. I will normally rule out only part of a question. If I recollect correctly it may have been only part of a question. But I normally do that only if it is pretty highly offensive. I did not think that was too highly offensive. I allowed a question today—I did not rule out a question today—from the member’s own leader when he suggested that a Minister was conning the public. I did not rule that out yet it is out of order obviously. But I do not want to be intervening all the time so unless it is highly offensive I tend not to rule them out. 
Catherine Delahunty 
: I seek leave to ask a question of the Hon Sir Roger Douglas. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to ask a member a question to a member. Is there any objection? There is objection.