Cunliffe David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCunliffe David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 18 February 2014. Volume:696;Page:15971. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]1.Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Leader of the Opposition) to thePrime Minister: Does he stand by his statement that there are “plenty of jobs out there for people if they look really hard”?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Yes. For example there is a chief of staff position in the Leader of the Opposition’s office a senior adviser’s position in the same office and a senior Television New Zealand executive position which was formerly occupied by someone who wants to be a candidate of the Labour Party.Hon David Cunliffe: It is all in the name of good sport. More seriously will the Prime Minister assure all 125 skilled people losing jobs at Fitzroy Yachts and the 19 skilled tradesmen at engineering firm Tenix—both in New Plymouth—that they will find another job in New Plymouth “if they look really hard’?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The first thing I would say is that those people live in a part of New Zealand with one of the strongest growth rates and one of the lowest unemployment rates. That is in principle because this Government is supportive of what is driving the local economy there—namely agriculture and also oil and gas exploration. What I would say to those people is that some of the policies that the Government has brought in over the course of the last 5 years like the 90-day probationary periods like reform to our planning process—all of these things willactually help support them to find employment. I say this last thing to those members because I and others have been to Fitzroy Yachts and it is simply that if they for one moment vote for Labour or the Greens they will be voting for no jobs and for a low-growth economy.Hon David Cunliffe: Will the 120 sacked mill workers at the Tachikawa Forest Products sawmill in Rotorua or the 200 workers sacked at Independent Fisheries in Christchurch be rehired in their community “if they look really hard”?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: People make decisions all the time on their employment but this is one thing that is important.Iain Lees-Galloway: They chose to! They chose to lose their jobs!Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Many of them probably will but firstly it is very important to understand the following. The labour markets are very dynamic in New Zealand. In any one 3-month period 100000 to 200000 jobs are lost and 100000 to 200000 jobs are created. Under a National-led Government actually there have been a huge number of jobs created which is why we have the 12th lowest unemployment rate out of 34 in the OECD. It is why our unemployment rate is falling and the unemployment rate in Australia is rising. And if anyone wants proof of what happens when you have a Labour-Greens Government and what it does to jobs—Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: Order! That answer is of sufficient length to address the question.Hon David Cunliffe: Given his answer are women not looking really hard for jobs when there are over 27000 more women unemployed now than when he became Prime Minister?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Obviously the world has gone through dramatic change but actually New Zealand has come through that much stronger than others. As an example we now have 1500 people a week going off welfare into work. If the member wants to have a serious conversation about which policies will create jobs and which policies will lose the jobs then we are more than happy to have that because those nice people over there whom he wants to coalesce with hate jobs they hate work and they hate growth.Hon David Cunliffe: Is he taking economic advice from Colin Craig and are Māori not looking really hard for jobs as the Māori unemployment rate has increased by 3 percent to almost 13 percent since December 2008?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Again I go through the issues that have taken place over the course of the last 5 or 6 years. What I do know is that when this Government came in there were predictions that unemployment would rise to over 10 percent. In fact that never occurred. Unemployment topped out at I think 7.2 or 7.3 percent. It has been falling. Under a National-led Government we have the lowest number of people going to Australia in a decade 1500 people a week are leaving welfare to work and 66000 jobs were created over the last 12 months. This Government has been pro-jobs and pro-growth and every time we have stood up to try to do something that would support the workers of New Zealand the Opposition has got up and rejected that. No one David is going to believe that you are pro-jobs because my friend you are not. You are losing people in your staff like no tomorrow and you are not pro-jobs.Hon David Cunliffe: Given that the Prime Minister campaigned on “Wave Goodbye to Higher Taxes”—not including GST—“Not Your Loved Ones.” what does he say to the families of the more than 200000 New Zealanders who have voted with their feet and left the country they love since he became Prime Minister? What does he say to those or is it just the “dynamic labour market” again?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The first thing I say to them is that we now have the lowest number of people going to Australia in a decade. That is the first thing. The secondthing I say to them is very simple. I would say to them on behalf of the Labour Party that I apologise—Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That is the third or fourth answer that the Prime Minister has given where he has purported to speak on behalf of the Labour Party or the Green Party. That is not within the Standing Orders and it will lead to disorder in the House if the Prime Minister continues to do that.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Speaking to the point of order—Mr SPEAKER: No I do not need the help. The issue is to be fair that the question was quite a wide-ranging supplementary question which certainly had political connotations. It is going to invite a political answer back. Are there further supplementary questions?Hon Trevor Mallard: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I would just like to draw to your attention—[Interruption] That just exemplifies the point I was about to make. I had trouble hearing Mr Robertson’s point of order because the member sitting next to John Hayes and the member sitting next to Chris Auchinvole neither of whom I am really sure I know—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The valid part of the member’s point of order is that there is a high level of noise coming from various parts of this House. It is to be tempered.