2. Question No. 2—Prime MinisterCHRISTOPHER LUXON (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 2—Prime Minister2. CHRISTOPHER LUXON (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Thank you Mr Speaker. I also join with other speakers across the House to give my condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the tragedy that we've seen overnight and just to thank the fire service and also the first responders. Does he stand by all of his Government's statements and actions?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Prime Minister): Yes and in particular this Government's work to fix the foundations of our education system after years of underfunding overcrowding and decay by upgrading every school in the country. We've already funded over 2700 new classrooms to create space for 66000 more students. Just yesterday the Minister of Education and I announced the construction of four new schools to add to the 16 new schools opened under this Government. This is a Government that delivers.Christopher Luxon: OK. Doesn't he think a Prime Minister two days before the Budget should know how much his Government is spending on taxpayers' behalf?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Yes and I do. That doesn't mean I've memorised every figure in the Budget.Christopher Luxon: Why when he was asked this morning couldn't he just say how much the Government is spending each year?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: If the member wants to turn the election campaign into a pop quiz I think he'll probably come up short on a number of things as well given that he can't answer even the most basic questions about his own tax policy at this point.Christopher Luxon: Isn't it the case that given his comments this morning the person who is most in need of a taxpayer's receipt is in fact the Prime Minister who still doesn't know how much he's spending?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I note the member doesn't know how much he's going to spend on delivering those very tax receipts that he's promising New Zealanders. In fact I'd suggest maybe he should get someone other than AI to draft his supplementary questions for him.Christopher Luxon: Is he aware that his Government is on track to spend $20 billion more this year than in 2020 and 2021 despite no lockdowns or no nationwide wage subsidies?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I note that the economy has been growing. I note that wages have been growing. All of those things flow through into the Government's finances.Ricardo Menéndez March: Does he agree with the Child Poverty Action Group who said Struggling families need much more than an inflation top-up"; if so will he commit to lifting main benefits beyond the indexation changes so families can thrive and not just survive?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: As I have indicated and as has already been announced the Government made the decision to switch the calculation for main benefit increases this year to ensure that those families can keep up with the increase in cost of living. In terms of what future decisions are taken on that matter that will be the subject of future Budgets.Ricardo Menéndez March: What steps if any is he taking to support the Sudanese community in Aotearoa calling for pathways to family reunification the enabling of safe passage for citizens' residency and temporary visa holders the provision of humanitarian aid and the commitment to a special visa category akin to the Ukraine special visa as a result of the conflict in Sudan?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The Government absolutely acknowledges the tragic situation that is unfolding in Sudan at the moment and New Zealand is providing consular support to those New Zealanders currently in Sudan through our embassy in Ethiopia. We do not have an embassy presence in Sudan. In terms of our pathways for people to come to New Zealand we manage that through our existing refugee quota for situations such as this. Of course I acknowledge the Sudanese community in New Zealand and there are provisions for them to support family members within our existing immigration settings.Golriz Ghahraman: Does he agree with the sentiment expressed by the Hon Phil Twyford today on Parliament's forecourt when he said that this is a Government that supports recognition of Palestinian Statehood and if so will he commit to formally recognising the State of Palestine?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The New Zealand Government supports a two-State solution; inherent in that is a sentiment towards a Palestinian State. Of course there are a whole lot of diplomatic and international processes to go through with regard to that.Christopher Luxon: How is it possible that his Government is spending $5 billion more on education even while achievement has gone backwards and kids aren't even showing up in class? Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Well of course there are more students in this education system than there were when we became the Government and I note that one of the biggest drivers of that increase has been teacher pay rises—something they didn't get under the last National Government. Christopher Luxon: Isn't it true that under his watch spending on consultants has ballooned to $1.8 billion despite promising in 2018 that he would reduce it?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I note that the member is not indicating which areas he would no longer have the Government working on. They just have this general policy that they're going to cut spending but they won't say where. I'm sure he's waiting for AI to tell him where the cuts are going to take place.Christopher Luxon: Isn't it the case that he's actually addicted to spending as much as Grant Robertson and when will this Government stop treating taxpayers like a bottomless ATM?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: That is an absolutely ridiculous question. He needs to come up with some new material rather than relying on the pre-scripted supplementary questions provided either by the research unit or by AI. It seems to produce the same outcome.David Seymour: Does the Prime Minister stand by the answers he gave this morning when he was asked five times how much money his Government spent last year: "It's not quite that simple. There are a number of different numbers I could quote … I don't play this game." and can he tell us now how much was core Crown expenditure by his Government last year? Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Yes I can—David Seymour: How much?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: —but; of course it depends on which—there are a variety of numbers I could—David Seymour: Core Crown—core Crown.Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: If it's core Crown expenditure it's about $129 billion.David Seymour: If I tell the Minister—[Interruption]SPEAKER: Order! We've got a question here thank you.David Seymour: Does he now appreciate that core Crown expenditure will be up 61 percent or $49 billion in five years to this year at $129 billion and can he name one service that his Government provides that is overall 61 percent better and how he's measured it?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: There is a lot of material in the member's question and it's a pretty wide question that basically means I can answer whatever I want so I will. There are programmes that this Government has introduced such as the Food in Schools programme that's feeding 220000 students every day. There have of course been across-the-board pay increases for our public servants like our teachers our nurses our firefighters and our police that have happened under this Government. There have been a range of investments that this Government has made in the critical public services that New Zealanders rely on such as our health system such as upgrading the woeful state of our infrastructure that we inherited from the previous Government—all of these things that have taken place under this Government.Hon Grant Robertson: What does the Prime Minister think the impact on New Zealand's economy and society would be from the following measures being undertaken: removing the indexation of main benefits to the Consumers Price Index; abolishing the Climate Emergency Response Fund and the Clean Car Discount abolishing fees-free abolishing KiwiSaver subsidies abolishing the Provincial Growth Fund Callaghan Innovation domestic film subsidies international film subsidies growth and development spending and a large range of ministries; and halting contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Mr Speaker—SPEAKER: I don't think so.David Seymour: What does it say that every single example in the Prime Minister's previous answer was not a measured outcome for the people but an example of spending more money with no mention of the outcomes whatsoever?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Well the member clearly wasn't listening. The very first example I gave him involved 220000 kids receiving lunch at school every day. If the member doesn't think that that's a positive outcome then perhaps he needs to think again. On the other hand given he is proposing to increase taxes for the lowest-income New Zealanders so that he can give tax cuts to the highest-income New Zealanders I'm not surprised he's somewhat confounded by my answer.David Seymour: Does the Prime Minister stand by his statement "It's not right for households to be tightening their belts if the Government isn't also being seen to be doing the same." and if so how many households wouldn't even have a rough idea of the cost of what they consume or the value of what they provide just like this Prime Minister on his Government's expenditure and results?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: As I indicated this morning if any New Zealander wants to know how much tax they are paying they can look that up right now on the myIR website which will give them a breakdown of the tax that they are paying. If anybody wants to know what the Government is spending money on that information is all transparently available through the Government's finances and of course that's all about to be updated in two more sleeps or in the member's case probably three or four more.David Seymour: Would the Prime Minister consider in its Budget a low and middle income tax credit and sharing revenue from the emissions trading scheme in a carbon tax refund that would leave lower-income New Zealanders better off even after a change to a lower flatter tax system—as in the ACT Party's alternative Budget which leaves every single worker better off—and if not why not?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Oh I thank the member for that question. Adopting the types of policies that ACT are promoting would result in—it's like reverse Robin Hood: robbing from the people who have the least in order to give more to the people who have the most. They want to cut public services—they want to cut public services that New Zealanders rely on every day—and have less funding available for health for education and for our law and order services. They want to cut funding for those things in order to provide tax cuts for the highest-income New Zealanders. The Labour Party does not support that approach."