Robertson Grant: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Robertson Grant: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 13 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8464. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
4. 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
 to the  
Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment 
: On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being very poor and 10 being outstanding how does he rate the Government’s performance on job creation? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment) 
: 
 I have given this question quite a lot of thought for the member because I think it does require a considered judgment as he is of course asking for an opinion. On the one hand the number of people looking for jobs is higher than we would all like. On the other hand compared with other OECD countries we are doing relatively well. Of course we have had to deal with the impact of the Christchurch earthquakes on the New Zealand economy as well as the global financial crisis. The global financial crisis has of course resulted in higher savings by New Zealanders which I think is broadly acknowledged as a good thing but this has limited job growth in areas like the retail industry which is a traditional source of larger numbers of lower-skill jobs. In terms of the Government actions we have of course a comprehensive Business Growth Agenda of 300 different agendas which will lift new investment and jobs in the New Zealand economy. On the other hand we have seen some people propose some more radical options which are a bit panicky and would in all likelihood— 
Hon David Parker 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I do not think I need to give my point of order. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: What is the point of order? 
Hon David Parker 
: Length! 
Mr SPEAKER 
: It was— 
Grant Robertson 
: It was a very specific question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No it was not. That was the difficulty. It was not a specific question at all and it was very much an opinion question but it was certainly a very lengthy answer. I accept that and I think that now we can conclude. I assume that the Minister has concluded. 
Hon Gerry Brownlee 
: I think the problem is the question and if in fact members keep asking these questions—how he rates the Government’s performance etc.—and then asking for a rating between one and 10 they could expect only that the criteria the Government might use to make such a rating would be explained to the House. So I think it would be unfortunate if the question stands but the answer is constrained. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: As I said I disagree with Grant Robertson. It was not a specific question; it was a very general question. It sought an opinion. It was a lengthy opinion but it is now concluded and I certainly invite— 
Grant Robertson 
: A number? No we haven’t had an answer to that question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: And it does not have to have a number given in the answer. It is an opinion question and your own colleague cut the Minister down not wanting him to complete his answer. The Opposition cannot have it both ways. 
Grant Robertson 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This question was accepted and it begins with the statement: “On a scale of 1 to 10”— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Correct. 
Grant Robertson 
: —so your office has accepted that as a question. Therefore there must be at least some reference— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No. 
Grant Robertson 
: —to that scale. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: And I appreciate the member’s position. I took some advice from the Clerk after noting the question and it is an opinion question that does not require an answer to be given in a range of one to 10. The essence of the question is how the Government rates job creation. A lengthy answer was given. There is the ability for the member to ask further supplementary questions if he so wishes. 
Grant Robertson 
: How does he then explain that 69 percent of businesses recently surveyed by Ernst and Young rated his Government’s performance on job creation as “average to very poor” or “less than 5” or as the  
Sunday Star-Times  
called it a fail mark? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: Well the  
Sunday Star-Times  
has always been a massive fan of this Government but I note that the survey—which had a sample size which interestingly was not mentioned by the newspaper of around 200—said that five out of 10 or better was around 52 percent as I recall. There were also other surveys that of course the member probably is not interested in hearing about because he likes to talk the New Zealand economy down and one of them of course is the BNZ Confidence Survey which has a net 40 percent positive for the New Zealand economy. There is also the ANZ survey which was also very positive about the New Zealand economy and there is also the Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion which rates business confidence the highest since 2007 at 19 percent positive. 
Grant Robertson 
: What credibility does that answer have when the same Ernst and Young survey shows that 71 percent of businesses rated his Government’s ability to develop and execute a Business Growth Agenda as being five or less out of 10 or in other words a fail mark? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: Well again that same survey said that five out of 10 or better was 50-something percent. So I actually think that although we can always do more and although we are always facing the challenges of the global financial crisis and the Christchurch earthquakes one thing we could be sure of is that if they surveyed “Which Government would you prefer this one or the last one?” they would say— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Grant Robertson 
: Which of the following does he think is the main reason that 70 percent of the businesses have given his Government’s job creation record a fail mark: 163000 people unemployed youth unemployment hitting 30 percent in the last quarter a 23000-person increase in those young people not in education employment or training or just the 30000 jobs that were lost last year on his watch? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: I think there are about three issues with the suppositions that the member raised there in terms of actual facts. But nevertheless in terms of the Government’s Business Growth Agenda we are in fact proceeding very strongly. We have just released for example the East Coast oil and gas study we have announced further reforms of the Resource Management Act we have announced the draft decision in favour of the MacKays to PekaPeka Expressway we have announced $25 million more in research and development grants we have announced that the mixed-ownership model is proceeding which will boost New Zealand’s capital markets—all of these things in just the last 10 days. 
Grant Robertson 
: Is the Minister aware that only two businesses in the survey rated the Government’s performance on job creation as outstanding and when will he be calling Cameron Slater and David Farrar to thank them? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: That is a pathetic question.