King Annette: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Annette: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 23 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4616. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]5.Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour)to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by his statement regarding refugee numbers that “it’s not 750 and I think it’s 3000 or 4000 off the top of my head”?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister):No because I corrected myself at my post-Cabinet press conference yesterday by saying that when I made those comments I had actually been referring to a number that applied to the full refugee quota programme which is a 3-year programme and is in the order of 3000 to 4000.Hon Annette King: In light of that answer was he talking off the top of his head when he also said that New Zealand was sixth in the world in accepting refugees from the official United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees when in fact we are eighth behind the United States Australia Canada Germany Sweden Norway and the United Kingdom?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No we were sixth at the time that the programme was introduced. Actually we are seventh according to the advice that I have so maybe we want to meet in the middle. The ones above us are the US Canada Australia Sweden Norway and Finland.Hon Annette King: Was he talking off the top of his head when he said that Australia takes 20000 refugees and that “they have taken them for a long period of time” when in fact the last time that Australia took that many was in 1981-82 and it has been averaging around 6000 for the last decade?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I think Australia would probably recognise that that might be right in terms of the programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees but I would be very surprised if the wider refugee number in Australia were not much bigger than that number given how many they do allow into Australia.Hon Annette King: Was he talking off the top of his head or from a hole in his head when he made reference to the Saudi payments—“as maybe the record will show in 2007 the previous Labour Government was well and truly aware of the situation and was looking to take its own actions.”—when released Cabinet papers confirm no such thing redacted or un-redacted?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No because I was right. The previous Labour Government was aware of the domestic legal risks. They are quite clear and actually it was looking to restart commercial shipments. It went to Riyadh as the redacted version shows and it misled the Saudis and it did it twice. Labour created the problem and as much as its members do not like my saying it unfortunately it is true.Hon Annette King: Why has it become a habit for him to make things up exaggerate use sophistry rather than substance and talk off the top of his head rather than be straight up and down with the people of New Zealand and the media; and is that appropriate action for a Prime Minister?Mr SPEAKER: Order! That is a very marginal question but I will allow the Prime Minister to answer it.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I would have thought that the member was a bit better than that but actually given the huge amount of media that I do—and I accept that I made an error in reading some information; I read 3000 to 4000 as a 1-year thing not 3-year thing—yes I made a mistake and I corrected it. By the way last time I looked there are lots of mistakes that are made by Labour but if Labour members want me to put out press releases correcting every one that they make I am more than happy to do it.