Twyford Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTwyford Phil: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 08 June 2016. Volume:714;Page:11785. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]9.PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū) to the Minister for Social Housing: Does she stand by her statement that her advice to the Prime Minister about the Salvation Army’s visit to Bruce Pulman Park “was not sufficiently clear”; if so why did she and her office release the same misinformation to the media?Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Housing): To the first part my answer is yes as it was yesterday and to the second part it is because we obviously did not realise that it was not sufficiently clear when we made the statement and after we did we have tidied that up.Phil Twyford: Did she tell the Prime Minister that officials from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) went out with NGO personnel including the Salvation Army to talk to homeless people; if not what precisely did she tell the Prime Minister?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I cannot remember the exact wording of what I told him but it was around this kind of statement: “A mobile squad made up of MSD staff and NGOs including the Salvation Army has been visiting Auckland City Mission and areas of Auckland to engage with people who may need help with emergency housing.” From that statement you can see that that could have meant that they were going out together or as I thought it read that MSD were going to the Auckland City Mission and the Salvation Army had been going to the park. But at the end of the day whether they were there together or separately it does not omit from the actual situation which is that we were going out trying to engage people who are in dire circumstances to make sure that they are getting the assistance that they deserve.Phil Twyford: How does she reconcile her statement “I have nothing to apologise for.” with the Salvation Army saying that her mistake has put at risk their ability to help the homeless?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I am sure that most members of this House have a huge amount of respect for the work that the Salvation Army does with our most vulnerable and as a consequence of that as I say the statements were not meant to be misleading. All I can do is front up and say that I made that mistake and that is where it sits. But honestly you apologise to the Chinese and I will apologise to—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! Supplementary question Phil Twyford.Phil Twyford: Thank you Mr Speaker—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! I am calling for a bit of discipline from both sides of the House.Phil Twyford: Does she accept that it is a failure of her Government’s policy that after 8 years in office she is pre-booking motels for homeless people and charging them for it?Hon PAULA BENNETT: We are the first Government to put more than $41 million into emergency housing and give them certainty of funding and make sure—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is absolutely no point in the Minister continuing the answer if Mr Twyford does not want to hear it.Hon PAULA BENNETT: I would like to continue my answer though.Mr SPEAKER: Well there is no point with that sort of level of noise being raised and I am very tempted to—[Interruption] Order! I am very tempted to move immediately to the next question. There is very little point in supplementary questions being asked when that sort of barrage occurs. I will allow the member on this occasion to continue with his supplementary questions but I expect an answer to be heard with far more decorum than it was just a minute ago.Phil Twyford: Why did she and the Prime Minister work so hard to try to blame homeless people for their plight instead of doing something credible to fix the housing crisis that she and her colleagues made?Hon PAULA BENNETT: I know that the facts do not work for the member but perhaps he would like to listen up to some of them. We are the first Government to put more than $41 million into emergency housing give certainty of those beds and increase the number of beds available. We are the first Government to actually be putting that money where it is really needed and addressing those needs as they are.