2. Teachers—Industrial ActionHon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader—National) to the Prime MinisterTeachers—Industrial Action2. Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader—National) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all of her Government's statements and actions?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes.Hon Simon Bridges: Is she aware that under her Government 60000 people have been on strike in just 10 months compared to 30000 in the previous nine years?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I absolutely acknowledge that because that Government couldn't resolve the nurses pay dispute we did have a situation we needed to resolve. And it took this Government doubling that offer that that party last made in office acknowledging the legitimate safety concerns that nurses had the understaffing and under-resourcing and that is how we got to a successful resolution after nine long years of neglect.Hon Simon Bridges: With teachers contemplating two-day strikes does she intend to spend the next two years avoiding any responsibility and not actually fixing the problem? [Interruption] SPEAKER: Order! Order! Settle down please.Hon Paula Bennett: A good question—a bloody good question.SPEAKER: Paula Bennett—that's a warning. I call the right honourable Prime Minister. Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I have to say I find that line of questioning a bit rich given that the first offer made by this Government is double what that last Government allowed teachers to work under. Double—because we acknowledge that we've been left and teachers have been left carrying a neglect of nine years' under-resourcing of teacher-aides and support. We've rectified some of that in the last Budget. We scrapped national standards. We doubled some of the funding that they receive on an operational level. We acknowledge the issues that teachers striked and marched on today. We are working with them to fix the problems we inherited. Hon Simon Bridges: Then why did her Government prioritise $2.8 billion for a fees-free tertiary policy that isn't delivering any extra students over additional funding for teachers' pay and the other issues she mentioned?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: First of all that is not correct. Second of all one of the issues that we have is barriers to learning. One of the first people I met after that announcement was made was someone who was entering into tertiary education to be a primary school teacher off the back of our announcement. We have a shortage of teachers. We have barriers to learning because of cost. We're addressing both of those issues.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Just to get this patently clear what term or years of recent politics were the teachers today on the forecourt of Parliament specifically saying they are protesting against?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The last nine years.Hon Simon Bridges: I ask again: why did her Government prioritise $2.8 billion for a fees-free tertiary policy that isn't delivering any extra students over additional funding for teachers' pay? [Interruption] SPEAKER: Order! Order! The Prime Minister will sit down. I saw what I'm taking to be a response—am I right?Hon Simon Bridges: From me?SPEAKER: Was the member responding to a similar—well I'm hearing some people saying yes and some people saying no.Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.SPEAKER: The Hon Gerry Brownlee will I'm sure help me.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Thank you. I think what the Leader of the Opposition was doing was suggesting to Grant Robertson that this is not instruction time.SPEAKER: Can I ask—first of all I'm going to ask the Hon Grant Robertson: did he do a finger-pointing exercise?Hon Members: No.Hon Simon Bridges: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. SPEAKER: I'll hear Simon Bridges.Hon Simon Bridges: I was anticipating an answer from the ventriloquist.SPEAKER: Right that member will now stand withdraw and apologise.Hon Simon Bridges: I withdraw and apologise.Hon Chris Hipkins: That was offensive—chauvinistic pig.SPEAKER: Order! Mr Hipkins. Mr Hipkins will now stand withdraw and apologise.Hon Chris Hipkins: I apologise for calling the Leader of the Opposition a chauvinistic pig.SPEAKER: As a result of that non-withdrawal the Opposition will have an extra five questions. That withdrawal will now be made in accordance with the Standing Orders.Hon Chris Hipkins: I withdraw and apologise.SPEAKER: Right we go back and I am going to ask Simon Bridges to ask his question again because I can't remember what it was.Hon Simon Bridges: Then why did her Government prioritise $2.8 billion for a fees-free tertiary policy that hasn't delivered a single extra student over additional funding for teachers' pay?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The Minister of Finance for those who are interested in what he muttered said We didn't." I'm going to expand substantially on that answer because in the last Budget we prioritised funding for 1500 more teachers. We gave a 45 percent increase for operational funding. We provided the first core early childhood education funding increase in nearly a decade. We tripled learning support funding to $272 million. That is called prioritising education. It's called prioritising children. If that side of the House thinks that everything that was brought to Parliament's forecourt today was all about us then where were they on the steps of Parliament?Rt Hon Winston Peters: Does the fees-free tertiary policy uptake show some positive recent trends and if so could she leak that information to the House?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Yes indeed it does. We have seen an increase in uptake and one of the issues we have is we inherited a declining enrolment across our tertiary education providers which we are turning around.Hon Simon Bridges: Why on Monday did her Government prioritise hundreds of millions of dollars more funding for new trees than it has for the entire primary school teacher wage settlement?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I say that pay settlement happened to be double what that Government invested in the sector. But I'd also say that that announcement wasn't just about the 1000 possibly 2000 jobs that it would create; it was also about the environment and it was about erosion. According to some of the ads the National Party has put out—I'm told the Leader of the Opposition cares about the environment; I'm yet to see any proof of it.Hon Simon Bridges: That's allowed is it?SPEAKER: Yes it is allowed in response to the type of questions that the Leader of the Opposition's been asking.Hon Simon Bridges: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. What was anything other than straight about the question I asked?SPEAKER: I suggest that if the member wants an answer to that he looks at the tapes.Hon Simon Bridges: Why on Monday did her Government prioritise hundreds of millions of dollars more for trees than for the primary school teachers' settlement when they're protesting outside today?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I pointed out that initial offer—because we are in the middle of a negotiation—was still double what that last Government put into teachers' salaries. It's not the only issue that we of course are discussing with them; we're discussing their workload non-contact time professional development—all issues that weren't prioritised by the last Government.Hon Simon Bridges: Does she agree with Labour leader Jacinda Ardern who said "We will not" have national strikes under a Government she leads.Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: That was in a direct question around fair pay agreements and I stand by it."