Shearer David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Shearer David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 13 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:7779. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
2. 
DAVID SHEARER (Leader of the Opposition) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he stand by all his statements? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Yes. 
David Shearer 
: Does he stand by his 2012 statement that figures for net migration to Australia were “fairly similar” under Labour; if so how many people have left for Australia in the last 12 months? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Yes and I do not have that number to hand. 
David Shearer 
: Given that 53676 New Zealanders have left for Australia in the last 12 months which is an all-time record what responsibility does he take for that exodus? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Well the Government is going through the long process of rebalancing the economy after the mismanagement of a Labour Government and there is an enormous amount of work to be done. And the reason business confidence surveys are increasingly showing support is that they can see that we are on the right track and that the Labour Party along with its good friends the Greens has only one policy and that is to turn New Zealand into a modern-day Zimbabwe by printing money. 
David Shearer 
: What responsibility does he take for the fact that 40 percent of the New Zealanders leaving for Australia are aged between 18 and 30—the future talent of our country? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: For a long time New Zealanders have taken the opportunity—young New Zealanders—to get some experience overseas. Many of them come back as the member will be aware. The member did that exact thing himself. One of the areas where they are going to in Australia is mining so if we go and look at Western Australia or northern Queensland we see plenty of young New Zealanders going there to work in the mining industry. I say to the member that if he wants to hold hands with National as we reform the Resource Management Act to make it more possible for people to expand oil and gas exploration and other mineral activity in New Zealand he should come and see me. He should come up and have a glass of wine and I will take him through the legislation and we look forward to the support of the Labour Party. But guess what! It will not do that; it will just carry on whingeing like it normally does. 
David Shearer 
: Does he stand by his statement made at Westpac Stadium where he said “It holds nearly 35000 people and believe it or not the equivalent of this entire stadium and more leaves every year to permanently live in Australia.” and is there a stadium in New Zealand now that could hold the number of people who are leaving to Australia currently? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Yes I stand by the statement. I also note that some of those numbers are starting to come back a little bit and one should be a little bit careful about getting too excited about Australia given what is happening on the east coast. But I can count numbers I can count heads I can count people and the remarkable thing is that if I stood for the leadership of the Labour Party I am pretty sure I would get a unanimous vote. 
David Shearer 
: What responsibility does he take for the fact that 90000 of our young people are not in education not in training and not in employment and does he think that this provides any incentive for young people to remain in New Zealand? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Well I would have to go and get you the exact “neets” numbers and that question could be directed to the Minister responsible for tertiary education who has those off the top of his hand— 
David Shearer 
: No but I’m asking you. 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Look I am more than happy to give you the answer. I am just telling you I do not have them exactly to hand. But the last time I looked at them the vast overwhelming bulk of young New Zealanders in that category are in education or training. 
Hon Steven Joyce 
: 80 percent. 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: 80 percent of them. There is a very small group who are not in employment—a very small group relative to the overall cohort. They are either in work in training or doing something else like having a gap year.