Curran Clare: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Curran Clare: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 21 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8836. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
7. 
CLARE CURRAN (Labour—Dunedin South) 
 to the  
Minister for Economic Development 
: What contribution if any will the ICT sector make to the Government’s stated 2011 Budget commitment to 170000 net new jobs being created by 2015? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Economic Development) 
: 
 According to projections released by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment—and it is important to point out that these are never exact numbers because you are asking for individual occupational groups—the computing professionals’ sector is expected to grow by 8000 in the 2010-15 period an annual growth rate of 4.4 percent the highest of any profession. My hope is that that growth will be larger based on the anecdotal experience of a lot of people looking for information and communications technology professionals at the moment. Orion Health which recently created 100 new jobs has said it is a very tight market and that if it could find more people it would mean more development. It said that if it cannot find the people “we will have no choice but to hire people elsewhere.” The Government recognises the potential the information and communications technology sector has to grow the New Zealand economy which is why we are investing significant additional sums in tertiary courses in science and engineering over the next 4 years. 
Clare Curran 
: Is he aware that Telecom has said it will soon announce job cuts “well into the hundreds” with industry indications as high as 1500 making it the largest loss of jobs from a single New Zealand company in recent decades at the very least and what has he or his ministry done to mitigate the impact on the information and communications technology workforce of these extraordinary job losses? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: I am aware in general terms of Telecom’s plan in terms of its job changes. 
Grant Robertson 
: What are you doing? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: Well I am actually very confident for the sector because the information and communications technology sector is probably the sector with the highest demand that is unmet for skilled information and communications technology workers from around the country. For example there was an article in the  
New Zealand Herald 
 as recently as last Friday talking about the fact that there was one website showing 1300 information and communications technology vacancies in Auckland alone with pay rates of up to $1500 a day. So I am confident that if the numbers the member talks about—and I have no awareness of those numbers—are true those people will be very quickly snapped up in the information and communications technology sector. 
Clare Curran 
: Given that it was he who drove through the legislation to separate Telecom in 2011 to build his ultra-fast broadband network and that it has been signalled that Telecom would need to shed staff to be competitive where is his industry plan for job growth in this sector and just how many jobs will it create? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: Well it may come as a surprise to the member that generally Government strategies are not very good at creating jobs. But if it helps the member can I say to the member in terms of the information and communications technology sector there was a very helpful release just 2 days ago from Statistics New Zealand which points out how rapidly and quickly the information and communications technology sector in this country is growing—now up to $23 billion worth of economic activity. Again the member may wring her hands but I am confident for the information and communications technology sector in this country. 
Clare Curran 
: Does he regard Telecom’s impending massive job losses as a matter for Government intervention; if not why not? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: It is an interesting question. I am not quite sure what the member would seek the Government do—ring Telecom up and stop it changing its work programme? Obviously there is concern in an economy when people have to lose their jobs but the reality is that that happens every year. Roughly 250000 jobs are created and lost every year in the New Zealand economy. The interesting thing is that the left wing thinks you can stop the world all the time and halt everything in place; the centre-right understands it is about encouraging investment opportunities. Truly the information and communications technology sector is one of those sectors that is growing very well and will quickly absorb whatever available people there are as a result of the Telecom changes. 
Clare Curran 
: Is he aware that his own ministry embarrassed by the lack of a credible economic agenda by the Government is attempting to stage a late intervention in the Telecom situation in order to dampen the effects of his Government’s failed economic policies? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: No I am not explicitly aware of that. What I can tell the member though is that my office has spoken to the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment asking whether there is a way of facilitating the opportunities. The reality is that I go around the country all the time talking to information and communications technology companies that cannot get enough staff. So I actually said to the ministry that there was an opportunity for it to get together with Telecom and those companies and see whether it can arrange those people to have the opportunity to look into new jobs. I think that is a good thing and that is actually something this Government should be encouraged to do. 
Clare Curran 
: Is it true that staff from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment have approached Telecom offering help with recruitment agencies; is that not the job of Work and Income and should not he as the Minister be instructing his own ministry to develop an industry plan for the information and communications technology sector? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: A very straightforward point is that the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment has quite possibly approached Telecom because I made an inquiry from my office to see whether there was any way it could assist to match some of the people who may not be staying at Telecom to any jobs around the country that the organisation is aware of. I think that is an excellent thing if it is possible but again the member is barking up the wrong tree here. The information and communications technology sector has massive vacancies and a massive demand for jobs. If the ministry can facilitate the information between those people working for Telecom and those with other companies I think that that is a wonderful thing. I thank the member for the question. 
Clare Curran 
: I seek leave to table two documents. The first is a document from the Parliamentary Library which says that—it is a report on job losses. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Is it a publication? 
Clare Curran 
: It is a publication of job— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Then it is available to the members. 
Clare Curran 
: No no no—it is not a publication. It is an analysis— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: And it was done for the member? 
Clare Curran 
: —done for the member—which has been unable to find any job losses over 1000 in any New Zealand company. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that Parliamentary Library document. Is there any objection? There is none. 









Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Clare Curran 
: The second document is the transcript from the financial review of the Ministry of Economic Development in December 2012 in which the— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! That is definitely something that is available to all members. 
Clare Curran 
: It may be available to— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Then it is available to all members. They do not need it to fulfil their information. It is on the website I am advised.