11. Unemployment Rate—Government Measures and Māori Unemployment RateHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of EmploymentUnemployment Rate—Government Measures and Māori Unemployment Rate11. Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of Employment: Does he stand by all of his statements?Hon WILLIE JACKSON (Minister of Employment): Sometimes you make statements that make perfect sense at the time. Look at the Leader of the Opposition Mr Bill English. In October he—SPEAKER: Order! The member will resume his seat. The member didn't start well when he involved me in the answer and he was going to continue in an out-of-order way. The member will now stand and answer the question.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: At the time of making them yes in context.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Supplementary—[Interruption]SPEAKER: So that's one down.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Was he serious with his answer to my question yesterday on why he thinks New Zealand has the lowest unemployment rate in 10 years: that the current Government has done a great job in the past few months?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: I was absolutely serious with my answer yesterday. This Government has done fantastic work in the last few months and it's getting better by the day.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Does he stand by his admission on Radio New Zealand National last week that Māori unemployment had indeed fallen 20 percent in 2017; and if so how does he explain that fall?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Yes I do stand by my statement on Radio New Zealand National that obviously unemployment has dropped by 20 percent. There's no problem with admitting that. The figures that the member refers to above relate to a drop in unemployment when comparing Māori with Māori annually. What the member appears to be missing is that my emphasis was that the Māori unemployment rate when compared to the general population has dropped by only 2.9 percent and sits at 9 percent—double the rate of unemployment for the general population.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Is the Minister happy with the trend this year in the unemployment rate in Northland?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: We've got some programmes in Northland. Things are getting better but there's a lot of work to be done. We're going to get certain programmes in there targeting youth and we're going to get resourcing and funding out that the previous Government refused to support.Hon Paul Goldsmith: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I asked a simple question—was he happy with something—and he made no effort at all to answer that.SPEAKER: I think he did right at the beginning. He addressed it.Rino Tirikatene: Why do young people continue to be at the forefront of the Government's employment strategy?SPEAKER: No. I'm happy to listen to the Minister explain to me how that relates to his previous answer. If he can relate it to his previous answer he can answer it.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Sorry Mr Speaker what was the previous answer? Can I just clarify what the previous answer was—in terms of Māori youth?SPEAKER: No. I think we'll just—[Interruption] Order! I think we're just going to scrub this one. We're going to scrub this one now because I don't think Mr Tirikatene's question related to a particular statement that the Minister had made.Rino Tirikatene: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.SPEAKER: I'm willing to hear from the member.Rino Tirikatene: My question related to young people in particular in the context of young Māori people which has been part of the interchange on this question.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Speaking to the point of order Mr Speaker.SPEAKER: Speaking to the point of order—you're going to support him are you Mr Brownlee?Hon Gerry Brownlee: No I'm not but I would support a continuation of questions going to the Minister. The primary question says Does he stand by all his statements?" Now it would be very easy for the vast machinery of the Government to have come up with a supplementary question today that would have met the requirements of question time relating to the primary question. I think you've been very generous in saying "Can you relate it to the previous question?" but it's a bit hard when the previous question was answered by the Minister with a series of stats that we're quite sure on this side of the House did not relate to the question. But that's for another day.SPEAKER: It was a lovely speech but I'm not quite sure how I should rule on it. I think I'm going to rule on it by going on to question No. 12."