7. Question No. 7—EmploymentDr SHANE RETI (National—Whangarei) to the Minister of EmploymentQuestion No. 7—Employment7. Dr SHANE RETI (National—Whangarei) to the Minister of Employment: How does the performance and capacity of his employment programmes help the thousands of New Zealanders who are unemployed due to the coronavirus outbreak?Hon WILLIE JACKSON (Minister of Employment): First of all congratulations to that member on his promotion in the National Party—ngā mihi ki a koe. The Government has moved quickly to respond to the labour market impacts of COVID-19 by swiftly ramping up our employment and redeployment supports. Within my portfolio we have seen a significant increase in capacity for a range of initiatives including He Poutama Rangatahi Mana in Mahi and jobs and skills hubs. This increase in capacity will see for instance He Poutama Rangatahi now reaching up to 15000 of our young people in need. My employment programmes are designed to help those who have been most marginalised from the labour market and face the biggest barriers to employment. Those are people who might have various complex needs and it's not a simple job to support them into secure and rewarding work. However our initiatives and investments are an all-of-Government project because COVID-19 requires an all-of-Government response and we're working together on this.Dr Shane Reti: Can he confirm written question No. 12308 from two days ago that the Government's flagship employment programme Mana in Mahi has capacity for only 2000 placements per year?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: I can confirm that the aim is to get 2000 placements over four years.Dr Shane Reti: If there are currently 40000 unemployed people and his flagship employment programme can only enrol—SPEAKER: Order! Order! The member will ask the question in a straight manner and without the pejorative.Dr Shane Reti: If there are currently 40000 unemployed people and his employment programme can only enrol 2000 a year or less how many unemployed New Zealanders cannot take up Mana in Mahi this year?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: I've said this before and I'll say it again: it's not just Mana in Mahi that is responsible for fixing the unemployment problems in this country. We just the other day announced a $2.6 billion infrastructure plan that will bring 20000 more jobs to New Zealand—20000 more jobs. On top of that—our $1.1 billion programme in terms of the green economy 11000 jobs; $1.6 billion in terms of apprenticeship investments; 15000 extra in terms of He Poutama Rangatahi. It's not just about Mana in Mahi although the Opposition seems to be fixated on that.Dr Shane Reti: Can he confirm his reply to the first question that Mana in Mahi will enrol 2000 people over four years?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: That is the aim of Mana in Mahi. That's been our aim right from the start and there is no problem that—Brett Hudson: They've got no aspiration over there.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Well we all have aspirations. That is the goal and we're on track at the moment. But I will say that it is a worry that the Opposition seem to have a problem with programmes with Māori names. A programme with a Māori name Mr Reti—you should know—can provide for everyone.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can I ask the Minister as to whether or not in these programmes that he is funding there is any sense of pigeonholing or being paternal about the placement of Māori for example at 13 and 17—specially reserved for that occasion and these events?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: No it's not about being paternalistic Minister and thank you for the question. Mana in Mahi is open for everyone. It just has a Māori name. Could the National Party get that through their heads? Programmes with Māori names can fit for everyone. It's a sad indictment on that party that they don't understand that.Marja Lubeck: Why was increasing capacity important to the Government's response to COVID-19?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: In answer to the question just as the Government has gone hard and early on our public health response to COVID-19 so have we gone hard and early on supporting those who face displacement or unemployment because of the global impact of this virus. One of the biggest and earliest responses was the wage subsidy scheme which has supported over 1.5 million jobs and paid out over $11 billion. This has kept people in work and given employers the ability to get going again as we relaxed our public health restrictions. We have invested early in job creation through redeployment and supporting the creation of new jobs especially in the regions. We've increased capacity in our programmes which has made it easier for people to undertake training—SPEAKER: OK OK—[Interruption] OK we've had enough. Thank you.Dr Shane Reti: Can he confirm written question No. 11043 that regional leadership skills groups have employed zero people to date given they were established a year ago and he has stated in this House that they are one of his critical employment programmes?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: I think the member is getting confused with our skills hubs in Auckland our Sector Workforce Engagement Programme hubs in Auckland which have been going for some time. The regional skills hubs have just been announced and of course no one has been employed. The essence and the main point of our regional skills hubs is for our leaderships to come together—iwi leadership industry leadership union leadership—and put forward a strategy and policy for those various regions. I'm excited with the establishment of the regional skills hubs and that member may want to play a part in terms of the development of the northern one.