4. Question No. 4—Prime MinisterDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 4—Prime Minister4. DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government's statements and policies?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes. I was especially delighted to see the support on the forecourt today from across the House for our world champion Black Ferns and I stand by the support that we as a Government have provided this and other major women's sporting events—2023 will be a very big year.David Seymour: When will she show some leadership and sack Nanaia Mahuta?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Obviously as I've already said in this House I have no such intention.David Seymour: How will New Zealand become a more peaceful and united country from the introduction of a law that allows people to be fined or jailed for Insulting a religion"?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As we have debated and discussed in this House many times before we already have provision in our Human Rights Act to prevent incitement based on ethnicity or race. What we have simply done is add the word "religion". If the member has a fundamental issue with the human rights legislation as it stands that's a matter for the member. Obviously on this side of the House we support the existing legislation but believe it should be extended.David Seymour: So is the Prime Minister's position that this addition of religion to the Human Rights Act will make no difference or that it will actually allow people to be prosecuted for insulting religions?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: No. My argument is not that it will make no difference; my argument is that we already have an existing framework in which the legal parameters can already be tested around issues like for instance race and we have added now the additional word of "religion". That is based of course on the experience that we've had in New Zealand—the sad experience we've had in New Zealand—and the recommendation of the royal commission. The royal commission did make suggestion that some of those definitions more broadly should be altered. A consultation document was put out on that. It received a lot of feedback. Then we've asked the Law Commission to support wider work because our aspiration remains to get cross-party consensus.David Seymour: Does she stand by her various statements blaming foreign factors for inflation when home-grown food just increased 10.7 percent year on year in New Zealand according to Stats New Zealand yesterday?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Yes.David Seymour: Does she stand by her various statements that other countries have it worse when a net 15000 New Zealanders chose to vote with their feet and move to other countries in the year to November?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The member has already heard me talk about the net positive growth we've had when it comes to migration. I've not for a moment diminished the experience that New Zealanders are having as a result of inflation. What I have done is put into context the fact that we are not having that experience alone and relative to other countries our experience is not as significant—we're in the lower half of the 38 OECD nations.David Seymour: How can the Prime Minister say that her immigration policy is working when more people are leaving than coming?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Because the member is incorrect. As I already said in the House if you look at the data monthly migrants arriving are higher than departures and this has been the trend over the past few months. The member can simply look at the numbers.David Seymour: Does she realise New Zealanders having to tighten their belts in a cost of living crisis are getting increasingly angry when they see her Government increase its own expenditure by $40 billion on pre-COVID levels even next year and the year after that?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The member again is incorrect. Our spending as a reflection of a percentage of GDP has decreased from 34 percent down to 31 percent where traditionally you tend to see those numbers trend across different Governments. We absolutely acknowledge the times that we are in and we are acting accordingly.David Seymour: So if this Government inherited spending at around 28 percent of GDP and will soon settle at 31 percent has this Government increased spending as a percentage of GDP or decreased it?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I said it brings us back broadly into line with the trends that we have seen with of course the interruption—not insignificant—of a one-in-100-year pandemic where most members in this House supported the additional expenditure that was put in place by this Government to support business. It's one of the reasons we have one of the lowest unemployment rates that we have seen at 3.3 percent and it is one of the reasons we have such low unemployment for Māori for Pacific and for women and we stand by that record.David Seymour: Why has her Government convicted only three parents in five years for kids not attending school when there are thousands of unexplained absences from New Zealand schools every day?Hon Chris Hipkins: Point of order Mr Speaker. The Government doesn't convict anybody. SPEAKER: That's a fair point. The member should reword his question.David Seymour: Why have there been only three convictions of parents for students not attending school in the period of this Government when there are thousands of kids absent from school unexplained every day?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The first point I would make is my recollection of the statistics; that is roughly the rate of conviction that you will have seen over a number of years not just under this Government. It has not been a tool that is frequently used and that in part is because of its level of effectiveness. The second point I'd make is that—putting aside the fact that during COVID of course those were abnormal years—I don't believe anyone in this House would think that it would make much sense to make judgments around absence when we had the highest levels of flu season and a requirement to stay home if sick in the past few years; but keeping in mind since 2015 we have seen a trend of increasing absence. If you look at some of the survey data one of the issues that we've seen grow is that some New Zealand families believe that it is OK to withdraw your child for large significant occasions or family holidays. We have a job to do across the board in reminding all families how important school attendance is to boost the funding of attendance services—as we have—and continue to work at a community level to bring children back into school.David Seymour: Can the Prime Minister give an example of her making a mistake apologising for it properly and fixing it?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: There's been a number of occasions where we acknowledge that we will not have perfect responses. We've openly said that for instance managed isolation and quarantine was something that was very difficult at the time and that there were people affected by it and that we would do things differently if we were ever confronted with that again. But I stand by the work that we've done as a Government over this last year and over this past term—we've always made decisions that we believe to be in the best interests of New Zealand at the time. [Prime Minister resumes seat] He's such an arrogant prick."