1. Question No. 1—Prime MinisterDEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori) (remote) to the Prime MinisterORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Prime MinisterDEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori) (remote): Kia ora e te Pīka. Does the—oh sorry. To the Prime Minister: does she stand by her Government's decision in 2017—SPEAKER: Order! Order! I think that might be the supplementary. DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: Thank you it is. I appreciate it. 1. DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori) (remote) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government's statements and actions?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes particularly the Government's actions to increase wages and focus support for low and middle income earners including reducing fuel excise duty by 25c and instituting half-price public transport to take steps to reduce the impact on New Zealand families during the continued volatility of fuel prices caused by the war in Ukraine. I also stand by our decision to increase the minimum wage to $21.20 per hour; to increase Working for Families which will make around 346000 families better off by an average of $20 each a week; adjusting the income thresholds for childcare assistance annually in line with average wage growth benefiting 1500 children; benefits to increase up to $35 a week from 1 April bringing the total increases for beneficiaries with children to an average of $175 per week including to $207 per week during the 2022 winter period; student allowances will increase by $25 from 1 April; and superannuation will increase to $52 per fortnight for a single person and $80 for a couple from 1 April. There's no silver bullet that will fix the cost of living but we have a plan and are implementing a range of measures that together will help to make a difference. Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Supplementary. SPEAKER: Go for it. Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Thank you. Does she stand by her Government's decision in 2017 to ignore their own policy and not remove GST from fruit and veges? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: When it comes to the policy of the removal of GST on fruit and vegetables obviously that was some years ago rather than 2017 that that policy was held. I would point out that—just for the point of comparison—from what the member's party has released today which is the removal of GST as I understand off all food it is interesting to point out that the Tax Working Group calculated a GST exemption on food would save families in the bottom decile of income roughly $15 a week while families in the highest decile would save $53 a week. Again I come back to the targeted policies that we've been promoting as a Government like for instance increases to the Best Start payment for families with young children—which will also increase on 1 April—and those increases in the family tax credit which on those numbers would for many families be a higher rate of increase than the removal of GST on food. Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Supplementary. SPEAKER: Yeah just go for it—don't wait. Don't wait—all right? Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: OK thank you. I know when I do that you'll kick me out. But anyway back to the question. Why is she unwilling to regulate retailers and break up the duopoly to prevent unreasonable price hikes on food and prevent them absorbing savings if GST on food was removed? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Well actually the member in her own question has highlighted one of the issues that is often raised around the removal of GST in any space and that's your ability to guarantee pass on. It's quite different to the way that the market operates for fuel where we do have devices that can give greater transparency around pass on to consumers and the Minister is using those tools to ensure that for instance the 25c being removed off fuel is being passed on. When it comes to the Commerce Commission's report which they only released just recently into supermarkets it has confirmed what we feared as a Government: that the market could be more competitive and that currently that is coming at a cost to consumers. We have taken seriously the recommendations. We'll be taking those to Cabinet and giving an official response but we have kept open the option of going further because we are concerned that there needs to be greater competition in the market for consumers. SPEAKER: Supplementary question Rawiri Waititi—clearly remote. Rawiri Waititi (remote): Clearly Mr Speaker. Kia ora. Does she accept that GST is a regressive tax that targets lower-income whānau who are forced to spend nearly every cent they earn; meanwhile the rich have untaxed wealth accumulating in housing investment funds and trusts? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: There are many areas in which the member and I would likely agree on policies. I actually reflect back on—it was the Māori Party at the time—Hone Harawira in this House who promoted for instance food in schools. I want to acknowledge that that is the origin of that initial policy debate that we had and I'm proud now that it is a policy for over 200000 children now that are benefiting from that policy. But when it comes to just the blanket removal across the board of GST on food you will have heard me reflect that—by just taking it off all food at a cost of $5 billion per annum—there are targeted ways where we actually can provide greater support for low and middle income families. That is what we have done as a Government using the Working for Families tax system to make sure that whānau are receiving more in their pockets during this period and you would for instance see greater benefits to higher-income earners through a blanket removal of GST.Rawiri Waititi: Why has the Government despite being in power for more than four years not shifted the tax burden from the poor to the wealthy through new taxes on accumulated wealth such as on capital gains ghost houses" financial services and pollution?SPEAKER: Order! Order! The question is quite a long way wide of the—I think we'll be a little bit liberal now but I think we might have a developmental session on making sure that questions are within order. I'll ask the Prime Minister to respond but with a bit of a warning that we're not going to stay that wide in the future.Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: When it comes to our approach to tax policy you know I would argue that actually we have focused on trying to ensure that the incomes of our low and middle income families have increased. In fact when you look at the impact of our policies on for instance the likes of a low-income earner someone on the minimum wage we have increased their wages significantly. We've also at the same time for instance put in place an additional top tax rate at those earning $180000 or more. We have introduced for instance an extension to the brightline test. We've removed interest deductibility and removed other tax loopholes which we believe were weighting the market more in favour of those who are investors in the market relative to first-home buyers. All of those things we believe are not only evening up the playing field but making our tax system fairer for all New Zealanders.SPEAKER: Right I've got a slight dilemma now because I was told the Māori Party was going to have five but no one's taken the call for the fifth one. We'll move on to question No. 2; it's in the name of Christopher Luxon."