10. Question No. 10—Workplace Relations and SafetyHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) (remote) to the Minister for Workplace Relations and SafetyQuestion No. 10—Workplace Relations and Safety10. Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) (remote) to the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety: Does he stand by all his statements?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety): Yes in the context in which they were made. In particular I stand by my statement that Our Government has sought to build a modern and fair workplace relations environment through policies like increasing sick leave entitlements to 10 days per year increasing paid parental leave from 18 to 26 weeks and increasing the minimum wage from $15.75 in 2015 to $21.20 in April of this year all while keeping unemployment at record low levels." and that "On this side of the House we reject the outdated and binary view of workplace relations in which any investment in the workforce is seen as a negative for business."Hon Paul Goldsmith: In rejecting the premise yesterday that Government decisions that have imposed costs on businesses have contributed to the cost of living is he arguing that significant Government-imposed costs on businesses large and small for which he's responsible have not flowed through to higher prices at all in this country?Hon MICHAEL WOOD: I stand by my statement yesterday in which I provided very clear information—for example the extremely minimal inflationary impact that the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment has assessed increases to the minimum wage on. And I pointed out the clear evidence—for example from Treasury and its comments on the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update—that most of the cost of living pressures that New Zealanders are feeling relate to international supply chain factors.Hon Paul Goldsmith: How can he stand by his statement yesterday "What I accept is that under this Government's policies wages whether they are measured by average hourly earnings or average weekly earnings have consistently outstripped increases in the cost of living." when Government statistics are clear that in each quarter of 2021 average hourly earnings growth was less than inflation?Hon MICHAEL WOOD: I can do that because that's what the figures very clearly show and I can assist the House in this. For example if we take the quarter two figures year by year under the term of this Government in 2018 median hourly earnings were 1.1 percent higher than the Consumers Price Index (CPI). In 2019 they were 0.4 percent higher than CPI. In 2020 they were 4.3 percent higher than CPI. They were a little lower in 2021 owing to some of those cost impact pressures that we have seen from COVID. But the clear record of this Government is for wage increases that are consistently higher than increases in the cost of living. We acknowledge the pressures that people are under now but it's no answer to that as the member would have it for us to not increase things like the minimum wage that will actually help the most vulnerable workers to deal with those cost pressures.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Point of order. Isn't it the case that if a Minister makes a statement in the House that is factually wrong which he did there where he said that hourly earnings were consistently higher than inflation when I've just demonstrated that they weren't in 2021 is the Minister not obliged to correct it at the first opportunity?DEPUTY SPEAKER: That is not the way to go about such a matter. If the Minister believes that to be correct then he has made that answer. The member should use his supplementaries to perhaps debate that issue.Hon Paul Goldsmith: OK I will then. Does he concede that the labour cost index which measures changes in salaries and wages for a fixed quantity and quality labour input shows a 2.6 percent increase in 2021 compared with inflation of 5.9 percent indicating that the cost of living is going up twice as fast as wages?Hon MICHAEL WOOD: I stand by all the comments that I've made in the course of this discussion whereby I've pointed out that consistently across the term of this Government workers have received wage increases in excess of the cost of living while acknowledging particular pressures that have been felt here in New Zealand and around the world due to the impacts of COVID-19 and supply chain factors. But the associated point I make is perhaps the most important one—the question is: what do we actually do about it? What we've heard from that side of the House is that they actually oppose the minimum wage increase that supports the lowest-income workers in New Zealand and that side of the House with the honourable exception of Nicola Willis who supported the Government's position would see the living standards of the lowest-income workers go backwards. That's not what we believe in in this Government.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Is he surprised that some Kiwis wonder whether his Government understands the reality of what we on this side of the House recognise is a cost of living crisis when its workplace relations Minister denies clear factual evidence that wages are not keeping up with inflation in 2021 and 2022?Hon MICHAEL WOOD: I am surprised that that member and others consistently raise the issue of the cost of living and then every single time that this Government does something to actually make sure that Kiwi workers get a fair go and get fair wages they oppose it. I recognise that that member still wishes that it was 1991 in the height of free-market extremism but actually on this side of the House we believe that Kiwi workers deserve a fair go and we'll take steps that we need to including increases to the minimum wage to make sure that they do."