Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Peters Winston: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 18 July 2012. Volume:681;Page:3623. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
8. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he stand by his statement “I want to move quickly to help save jobs”; if not why not? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Yes. That statement was made as I was announcing the 9-day fortnight scheme in March 2009. The scheme aimed to help keep people in jobs during the worst of the recession. I am advised that a total of 54 employers signed up to the scheme supporting 4702 employees. It saved an estimated 699 jobs. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Given that it was concerning the statement a job support scheme does he plan to use any part of the announced savings from the cancellation of the Otaki-Levin expressway to save the 220 jobs that KiwiRail plans to cut due to budget constraints; if not why not? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I am not in a position yet to confirm exactly the changes that KiwiRail may or may not make. That is an operational matter for it to ultimately announce. What I can say is that the Government is very supportive of KiwiRail. That is why we have put three-quarters of a billion dollars into the turn-round scheme. That is why the Government is forgoing a dividend from KiwiRail. It is part of a $4 billion turn-round for the company. It is also important from the Government’s perspective that it allows the management to get on and run the company as it sees fit. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: If he is therefore so supportive of KiwiRail will he intervene to stop the South Australian company Speno from being contracted to maintain 2800 kilometres of New Zealand track at the expense of local jobs? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I do not have any details on that particular contract but what I would say is that it would be against CER I would have thought for us to actually ban an Australian company from doing something in New Zealand. And it would not be in New Zealand’s interest because New Zealand companies do an awful lot of work in Australia and you certainly would not want to get into a tit-for-tat situation on that front. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Why is the Prime Minister prepared to hand out tens of millions of dollars in corporate welfare to people in Hollywood but not prepared to find $14 million to keep hundreds of New Zealanders in employment permanently in this country?  
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Firstly in terms of the first point that is simply not correct. What happened was the Government certainly changed the law to clarify the definition of a contractor so that the  
Hobbit  
movies could be made in New Zealand. And that is a thing to rejoice about: 3000 jobs from the  
Hobbit 
 and two hopefully blockbuster movies—maybe a third one. I tell you what the Labour Party and probably his caucus will be out there with their tongues out begging for a ticket when it comes to the premiere on 28 November— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The Rt Hon Winston Peters. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! I say to both sides of the House that when I am on my feet there will be silence. The Rt Hon Winston Peters. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: The poor chap is hallucinating. Given that KiwiRail is buying rail wagons from China rather than building them in our own workshops in this country and is now outsourcing in respect of the Speno contract—again to an overseas company from Australia—what does he propose to do to stand up to his statement that he seeks to save New Zealand jobs? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: As I said in answer to the primary question the particular comment around saving jobs was in relation to the 9-day fortnight and we saved 699 jobs doing that. In terms of building the locomotives he is talking about at Hillside in Dunedin I think most people would accept that that workshop probably does not have the capability to do it on a cost-efficient basis. It certainly can make other things—and it has. Hopefully when it goes through the expressions of interest process it will find a buyer. But when it comes to saving jobs—or in this case saving a job—can I congratulate David Shearer because my goodness the changes made to Labour’s caucus— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The right honourable Prime Minister has no responsibility for the Labour caucus. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! The House has had some fun but we need to conduct question time with reasonable demeanour.