2. Prime Minister—KiwiBuild Tax Rates and Winter Energy PaymentRt Hon BILL ENGLISH (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterPrime Minister—KiwiBuild Tax Rates and Winter Energy Payment2. Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all of her Government's policies?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes.Rt Hon Bill English: Does she stand by her policy to deliver 100000 affordable homes over 10 years over and above what the private market or former Government were going to deliver and does that mean that the KiwiBuild homes announced by Phil Twyford at Asquith Avenue in her electorate which were already being delivered by the previous Government don't actually count as part of the 100000?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: If they'd already been delivered people would be living in them.Rt Hon Bill English: So can the Prime Minister therefore confirm that the 100000 affordable homes are over and above the existing programme of 35000 new builds by Housing New Zealand and therefore she will need to make sure the Government builds 135000 homes in order to meet the target?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I'm happy to speak to some of the specific examples in my electorate where that building programme had not been delivered because some of the houses were meant to be at market value. The interest wasn't there and they weren't built. What we've committed to doing is building 100000 affordable homes that would not be otherwise built without the Government's intervention.Rt Hon Bill English: So can the Prime Minister confirm that she intends to count as part of the 100000 houses all of those houses that had been begun or were planned by Housing New Zealand and in fact that she's not building 100000 in addition to what the former Government were going to deliver?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I've said KiwiBuild homes are affordable homes that would otherwise not have been built had it not been for the intervention of the Government.Rt Hon Bill English: Does she stand by her Government's policy that superannuitants will be no worse off as a result of the cancellation of National's tax reductions and if so how does she explain to a superannuitant couple that they will receive $290 less next year because of the delayed introduction of the Winter Energy Payment?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I acknowledge that the winter energy payment does come in in July. That simply was a matter of us being able to make sure we could implement what is a significant programme. There will from memory be 13 weeks of winter energy payment next year and then it extends to the full payment from May to September in the following year.Rt Hon Bill English: So why did the Prime Minister not then tell superannuitants that next year they will be $290 worse off than if they had received the tax reductions and it's not until the following year that they will be in the same position as they would have been?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As we take as a whole the benefits of this Government to older New Zealanders it's not just the fact that they will receive the winter energy payment. We also have plans to bring down primary health costs and there's access to cheaper doctors services. There are a number of other plans that we have in train that will all benefit superannuitants. [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! Nick Smith.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Is possible that the Prime Minister's having difficulty answering this question given that Mr Joyce says one thing and his leader says something else? Mr English says that it will be affordable two years from now in balancing out the loss of the tax cut and Mr Joyce says it never will be balanced out.Mr SPEAKER: While I'm sure the Prime Minister wishes to comment I'm not going to let her.Rt Hon Bill English: So can the Prime Minister confirm that the winter payment next year to superannuitants is $290 less than the tax reduction that they would have achieved?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Again reiterating as we have done in the House continuously: that was a tax cut they never actually received. It wasn't in place. But the winter energy payment does start in July; it runs till September then runs in full from the following year. But of course as we say we have a focus on improving services overall for our superannuitants.Rt Hon Bill English: When the Prime Minister said superannuitants would be no worse off than if they had received National's tax reduction why did she not tell them that next year they will be $290 a week worse off against the benchmark that she set?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I've said several times yes it begins in July. Some of that in part was just the implementation of what will be the largest payment introduced in our system that we have seen in some considerable time. By the following year it will be for a couple a full $700 payment and $450 for singles. And as I say there will be a number of other benefits for superannuitants particularly when it comes to accessing healthcare which had declined dramatically under that last Government.