1. Question No. 1—Prime MinisterHon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Prime Minister1. Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government's statements policies and actions?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes.Hon Simon Bridges: What has happened to the public housing waiting list in the last year?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: It has moved from being what the Salvation Army described as an opaque gatekeeping system" where people who were in need found it very hard to get on the register and those who were on it were very easily moved off it. On this side of the House we've often referred to the studies by the likes of Otago University that have pointed to more than 40000 people—Dan Bidois: Be honest. It's gone up.SPEAKER: Order! Which member made that interjection?Dan Bidois: Sorry.SPEAKER: Withdraw and apologise.Dan Bidois: I withdraw and apologise.SPEAKER: And a very serious warning to that member. He is already not in my good books.Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We have often on this side of the House referenced the research by Otago University that pointed to there being as many as 40000 people who are in inadequate housing who are homeless who are in overcrowded housing. What we know now is as we expected the housing register is now reflecting the honest face of the housing crisis.Hon Simon Bridges: How can she say that when the public housing waiting list has gone up by 73 percent—or 4530 households—to 10712?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: What I actually just said—if the member had listened—was an acknowledgment that we have always said those lists will get worse because on that side of the House they denied people the right to register their housing need. They turned around people in desperate need of housing and they pushed people off the list. In fact they got rid of two categories to try and hide the housing crisis in this country. We are not hiding the housing crisis; we are responding to it. On this side of the House we are building more houses than any other Government since the 1970s. We have 1100 houses built. We have provided roughly 1900 public housing spaces. We have increased Housing First across the country. We've increased transitional housing. We will meet the need.Hon Simon Bridges: Has she just acknowledged that the public housing waiting list some 16 months into her administration has got significantly worse?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I've acknowledged that the housing register now reflects the crisis we have. If the member had listened we've never talked about 10000. On this side of the House we acknowledge the research that just two years ago said the need was more like 40000. It was that side of the House that hid it. We have stood up and said "If you need help come to the Ministry of Social Development." and people are. I would ask the member not to listen to me but to listen to the likes of the Salvation Army who in their last report acknowledged that there is a changed approach at the front line. People who need help are being acknowledged and are getting it and that is a vastly different situation than before.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Is it not a fact that the Housing New Zealand Corporation building programme is going gangbusters and that the supply of Housing New Zealand Corporation houses is greater now than it has been for decades?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: That is absolutely correct. We have built since we've come into office 1191 new State houses. There are 768 transitional housing places since 2018 temporarily housing more than 3000 families each year. As I said Housing First has started to help 521 rough sleepers. We always said we had a crisis and we are responding to it. That last Government couldn't even utter the words.Hon Simon Bridges: When the Rt Hon Winston Peters refers to Housing New Zealand and the Prime Minister says that they are building unprecedented housing does she accept what Housing New Zealand said today at select committee which is that literally all of the houses built have been either consented or under contract under the last Government?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The combined activity of this Government means that we are building more houses than any Government since the 1970s. What the member said is not correct.Hon Simon Bridges: When she refers to NGOs what does she say to Ricardo Menendez March of Auckland Action Against Poverty who says that the Government needs more than just—Hon Carmel Sepuloni: Good friends of National.SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Social Development will stand withdraw and apologise.Hon Carmel Sepuloni: I withdraw and apologise.SPEAKER: The member will start again and there will be additional supplementaries.Hon Simon Bridges: When she refers to NGOs and their views what does she say to Ricardo Menendez March of Auckland Action Against Poverty who says that the Government needs more than just rhetoric; it needs to actually put in the resources required to build enough State homes?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I'm sure that Auckland Action Against Poverty will acknowledge that this is a Government that stopped the State housing sell-off that we had under the last Government and is actually building them rather than reducing them and Auckland Action Against Poverty would probably reflect on what a different place we would be in if 10 years ago the then National Government were listening to Auckland Action Against Poverty Hon Simon Bridges: What is her target in her year of delivery for the number of people on the public housing register given her Government's scrapped the equivalent Better Public Services social housing target?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I have to say this idea that the last National Government setting a target meant that an issue was resolved—that last Government when the number on the national register reached 10000 did they build more houses? No. They cut two categories from the list to arbitrarily reduce it. They manipulated the data. This is not a Government that will hide behind numbers. We acknowledge the need and we are building houses. Hon Simon Bridges: Is the reason her Government won't hide behind the numbers because there are none?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I believe we are debating numbers because we of course have released the data around the register. Again we very openly when we took office said this will get worse before it gets better. Hon Simon Bridges: Speaking of numbers how many State houses will her Government aim to build by the end of this year? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Over a four-year period we have budgeted for 6400 public housing places to be created under this Government. Hon Simon Bridges: How many will she build this year? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We have already built over 1100. Hon Simon Bridges: How many KiwiBuild homes will her Government aim to build by the end of the year? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We are seven months into a 10-year programme and we have already built more affordable houses than that Government did in 10 years. Hon Simon Bridges: Well if she can't say how many KiwiBuild homes this year can she even say this term? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Again as we have reiterated many times we have stuck with our goal of 100000 over 10 years and again even one more affordable home is one more than that Government built. Hon Simon Bridges: Can we confirm there are no targets or aims or measures for State house building or KiwiBuild this term of her Government? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Again I find this line of questioning rich given the last Government refused to do anything about the fact that only 5 percent of new houses were available in the affordable or first-home buyer category and their response was to do absolutely nothing—absolutely nothing—Hon Dr Nick Smith: Rubbish—that's a lie. Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: —which is why we have the supply issue—SPEAKER: Order! Who made that interjection? Hon Dr Nick Smith: I withdraw and apologise. SPEAKER: And leave the House. Hon Member: Oh! SPEAKER: There's already been a warning on that subject—to the member next to him. Hon Dr Nick Smith withdrew from the Chamber. Hon Simon Bridges: Are my questions asking for deliveries for targets and for measures pesky to the Prime Minister? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: No I relish in them."