1. Question No. 1—Prime MinisterDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Prime MinisterORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Prime Minister1. DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all of his Government's statements and policies?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Prime Minister): Thank you Mr Speaker. Yes particularly this Government's work to build an economy that keeps wages growing ahead of inflation and maintains record low unemployment. Statistics New Zealand data out today shows median weekly earnings from wages and salaries grew 7.1 percent in the year to June 2023 ahead of the rate of inflation. We know that the most important thing we can do to help New Zealanders with the cost of living is ensure that they are in work with growing wages. I'm particularly proud that we have delivered unemployment below 4 percent for 24 consecutive months a feat that has only been achieved on one other occasion in the last 30 years.David Seymour: How much money does the Government currently collect in goods and services tax or GST on fresh fruit and vegetables and can he confirm it's approximately $500 million per year—$10 million per week or $2 per person per week?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The cost across the forecast period is about $2.2 billion.David Seymour: Does the Prime Minister agree with his Government's Tax Working Group which said changes in rates for specific goods and services were on average not fully passed through and had an estimated average pass through rate of approximately 30 percent." and if so does he accept that taking $2 worth of GST off fresh fruit and vegetables per person would save the average person 60c a week?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: No.David Seymour: Why not?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Because I don't agree with them.David Seymour: Does he accept his Government's Tax Working Group's conclusion that low-income households' benefit from taking GST off food would be three times less than high-income households' and can he name any groceries a low-income shopper won't need to take out of their trolley and put back on the shelf because the Government saved them 60c by no longer charging GST on fresh fruit and vegetables?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I reject the assertion in the last part of the member's question.David Seymour: Does he agree that the Government's record of increasing spending by $56 billion per annum has led to a culture of extravagance where public servants think it's acceptable to spend $40000 on a leaving function and what does it say that ACT has been able to identify a billion dollars of wasteful spending programmes that could be stopped immediately without anyone noticing except the people working in those bureaucracies?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I do note that some of the policies the ACT Party proposes to cut would result in significant job losses across the economy including in the private sector. The ACT Party wants to cut all of the support for the screen sector in New Zealand—no more Hobbits no more Lord of the Rings no more Avatar; cut under an ACT-National Government. I notice they also want to cut the support for the space sector so forget about Rocket Lab and other innovative industries that actually see New Zealand as a great place to base their operations; gone under an ACT-National Government. These would be private sector jobs gone. I can say to the members in the ACT Party and the National Party that a tax cut won't mean much to people who lose their jobs because of their cuts.David Seymour: Does the Prime Minister seriously expect New Zealanders to believe that Peter Beck's success with Rocket Lab is because his Government employs 50-odd people mostly hired after Rocket Lab hit lift-off or is he really just worried that he's going to need a new job soon and he'd like to be a hobbit in the next movie that's sponsored by the Government?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Well if the member thinks that we shouldn't have a regulatory framework for space in New Zealand he should talk to the previous Government who were the ones who put it in place in the first place.David Seymour: Would he say it's a good example of the Government tightening its belt that Mac Leauanae's $40000 farewell from the Ministry for Pacific Peoples was followed by a welcome to the Ministry for Culture and Heritage that cost only $12500 including $468.70 on flowers which included 60 bucks of GST?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I don't believe that expenditure was appropriate.David Seymour: Will he admit that the Government's firearm reforms failed after five firearm deaths—half of New Zealand's annual average of fatal shootings—occurred in just 17 days or would he like to take this opportunity to argue that we'll all be safe soon because those criminals and the crims who supplied them with illegal firearms will be registering their guns soon?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: In fact if Governments had worked earlier to remove illegal firearms from circulation we might not be in the situation that we are in now. I welcome the fact that the member now seems to be backtracking on his unequivocal pledge to remove the firearms register—one of the tools the police have been asking for for decades—that is being delivered by this Government and that would be at risk under an ACT-National Government.David Seymour: Does his statement that "the healthcare system should be treating people equally"—is that a statement he stands by and as Prime Minister is there anything he can do about race being used to prioritise surgical wait-lists give out Prezzy cards exclusively to pregnant Māori women a pharmacy service being accessible only to Māori and Pasifika a separate Māori Health Authority and a medical health line that opens with "Press 1 if you are Māori"?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: In answer to the first part of the member's question yes absolutely. I recognise that our health system has delivered inequitable outcomes for Māori and Pacific New Zealanders including New Zealanders in rural communities for example and proactive targeting of ensuring that we are creating equal outcomes for different population groups I think is a positive thing. I note the member isn't attacking the fact that there are now targeted support services—health services—for rural communities in the way that he is some of those other population groups.David Seymour: Is the Prime Minister aware that both Māori and non-Māori live in cities and in rural areas and what New Zealanders object to deeply and strongly is the constant profiling of citizens by race by his Government?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I absolutely reject the statement in that question which is just plain racism."