Turei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Turei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Sitting date: 28 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4766. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
3. 
METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he stand by his statement that “the most comprehensive study of inequality in New Zealand is  
Household incomes in New Zealand: Trends in indicators of inequality and hardship 
”? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Yes. 
Metiria Turei 
: Does he agree with the 2012 update to this “most comprehensive study of inequality” that under his leadership as Prime Minister inequality in New Zealand has increased to the highest it has ever been in New Zealand’s history? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: That graph looks like the National Party’s poll ratings while in Government so I appreciate the member showing it to the House. 
Metiria Turei 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! Come on. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! What is wrong with members? I am on my feet. On both sides of the House this will cease. I think I can anticipate the member’s point of order. Really the question deserved better than that. I think that was unfair and the Prime Minister can do better than that. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! I am on my feet. I mean the member asked a question. She held up a graph which on the face of it appeared to indicate whatever the graph was indicating at a fairly high level in recent years. Her question given the visual aid that the member had did not seem a totally unreasonable question at all. 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: The reason the member got that answer is she has taken a very tiny piece of that graph—not the entire graph that is actually in the report and not many other graphs in the report that actually contradict that. That is the reason why the member got the answer. 
Metiria Turei 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question asked whether he agreed with the report as to its conclusion on the state of inequality in New Zealand. I did not ask for his view about the graph; I asked about his view on the report about inequality and he has not even addressed— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I apologise to the member. I say to the House that it is not reasonable to be interjecting. A member is entitled to raise a point of order if they believe that a question has not been answered. However on this occasion—I think the Prime Minister’s first response was unfair and that was why I pulled the Prime Minister up—in his second response he pointed out in response to the substance of the member’s question that the graph the member was referring to covered only a limited period of the material presented in the report. I understood from the Prime Minister’s answer that if one took the entire period of the report different conclusions might be reached and I think that is not an unreasonable answer for the Prime Minister to come to. 
Metiria Turei 
: Does the Prime Minister agree with the “most comprehensive study of inequality in New Zealand” that under his leadership the percentage of children who are living in actual hardship in this country has grown from 15 percent to 21 percent—that is one in every five New Zealand children—while the rich under his watch keep getting richer? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: No I do not agree with the way that the member has phrased that. I draw the member’s attention to the report because what it actually shows is that income inequality on a number of measures in the report still remains lower today than it was over the mid-1990s and 2000s. The report also says that OECD figures show that we are not a deeply unequal country. On standard measures we are about the same as Australia and Canada and nowhere near as unequal as countries like Mexico and the United States. If the member wants to selectively pick one or two pieces out of the report she is free to do so but in my opinion she is misrepresenting it. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Is inequality at the level it is now acceptable to his Government? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: We would prefer that we were a more equal society with less inequality but what the report actually goes on to quite clearly demonstrate is that the vast bulk of the changes that have taken place is due to the global financial crisis. Fortunately this Government has an economic plan that is seeing the economy grow and enabling people to get into work. This Government is focused on welfare reforms to get people into work. This Government has been quite prepared to put up over $350 million to insulate homes in New Zealand. This Government has supported under-6-year-olds to get free doctors’ visits. This Government has supported making sure we reduce rheumatic fever. This Government is increasing vaccination rates for young kids. This Government is making sure that more young children have early childhood education. This Government is making sure that national standards— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I call Metiria Turei. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! I apologise to Metiria Turei. Look I say again to both sides of the House that it is just discourteous to not allow a member at the back of the House to have their question heard. 
Metiria Turei 
: Does the Prime Minister agree with this comment from the report in section 4: “From the 2010 to the 2011 HES both the 80:20 ratio and the Gini rose significantly. This reflects the rise in incomes in the top third and the fall in incomes in the bottom two thirds of the income distribution …”—that is the gap between the rich and the poor is growing significantly because the rich are getting richer and everyone else is getting poorer? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: By definition they are not getting poorer. But what I can say is that the report quite clearly says that there have been the effects of the global financial crisis—some people have got less work less overtime; there are things bouncing around. The report also says the following: that research indicates that parents obtaining full-time paid employment is the most important event to lift children out of poverty. That is why this Government is focusing on areas like welfare reform—to make sure that those youngsters actually have a better opportunity. We know from some of the research that we see that 60 percent of all children living in poverty do so because they are in benefit-based households. 
Metiria Turei 
: Will the Prime Minister act on the call from the Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty which reported today for a universal payment to alleviate child poverty and therefore support the Green Party bill to replace the in-work tax credit with a child payment for all children who are in the worst poverty? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: No. And let us run through the logic of what that member has just said. She has got up in the House and she has told New Zealanders that we are an unequal society in New Zealand in her view because the rich are getting richer and now she is on her feet telling me to give the rich families even more for their kids. What a dopey idea that is! 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Supplementary question Metiria Turei. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! Can I say again to members that it is just not fair to a member at the back of the House to keep this noise level up. 
Metiria Turei 
: Does— 
Hon Simon Bridges 
: Been smoking too much of the dope again. 
Metiria Turei 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I take personal offence at the comment made by Simon and I ask that he be asked to withdraw and apologise. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! [ 
Interruption 
] Order! I just do not understand why members are carrying on like this. A point of order was raised and the member took offence at a comment that was made. The member should have used the member’s full name in referring to the member whose comment she took offence at. Can I check with the member. I did not hear the comment. Whose comment was it that she took offence at? 
Metiria Turei 
: The Minister Simon—that guy over there. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! Look I think honestly if the Speaker is to take—[ 
Interruption 
] No I am on my feet now. Look if the Speaker is to take this seriously the member knows who the Minister is and that is not good enough. I think we should go on to the next question. 
Metiria Turei 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I want to just express my apology that in my frustration over this question I was not thinking straight. I do know the Minister’s name. My apologies for that. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Supplementary question Metiria Turei. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! I want to hear just the supplementary question. 
Metiria Turei 
: Does the Prime Minister agree with the Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty that children should be guaranteed a warm dry home to live in through a warrant of fitness - type programme for rental housing like that proposed by the Green Party in our Energy Efficiency and Conservation (Warm Healthy Rentals) Amendment Bill; if so will he support our legislation in the House? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: To the latter point I have not seen the Greens’ legislation so I cannot comment on whether we would support it. Secondly in terms of the former point yes of course it makes sense for New Zealand homes to be warm. The health benefits of that are self-explanatory and the member knows that because the Greens worked with National for a $358 million programme for housing insulation. Whether more can be done to encourage private sector landlords to increase the quality of the accommodation they are providing is yet to be seen but that would be a very positive step if this Government could encourage them to do it. From our own perspective we are certainly getting our own house or as the case may be houses in order because the Government has agreed that we will be insulating every State home in New Zealand. 
Metiria Turei 
: Is the Prime Minister not ashamed that the only group whose incomes have risen under his leadership is the very wealthy leaving hundreds of thousands of New Zealand children living in poverty and hardship? Prime Minister who are you choosing with your policy? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: The member is quite incorrect. Median income in New Zealand has risen. Real after-tax incomes have risen across the board for New Zealanders. 
Metiria Turei 
: Not according to this it hasn’t! 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Well you can wave any bit of paper you want at me. Frankly if you want to selectively take bits out you are welcome to but if you want to be honest about characterising what the report actually says it says that on a number of measures it is better today than it was back in the 1990s and 2000s. So quite frankly yes median income has been rising and what we are choosing is hard-working New Zealanders who go out there day after day to try to support their families. That is why we have been reducing taxes and the like for them.