1. Question No. 1—Prime MinisterCHRISTOPHER LUXON (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Prime Minister1. CHRISTOPHER LUXON (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all of her Government's statements and actions?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes particularly the Government's support for New Zealanders during the current volatile and uncertain environment. This has enabled us to boost the incomes of seniors and students and low-income families while a million New Zealanders are receiving the winter energy payment. From next Monday the targeted cost of living payment will deliver around $27 a week for roughly 2 million low and middle income New Zealanders and will be paid in three instalments. In response to high fuel prices we've cut the fuel excise duty and road-user charges and have halved the public transport cost until the end of January next year. These measures are temporary and targeted to those who are finding it toughest and will seek to mitigate the underlying drivers of high inflation such as global energy volatility. New Zealand is in a strong position to support households and businesses. Unemployment is low exports are growing and Government debt is substantially below many other nations we would compare ourselves to. There is no single or easy solution but we'll continue to provide targeted support to New Zealanders in these challenging times.Christopher Luxon: Why are fewer than one in two children in New Zealand attending school regularly and what has her Government done other than announce a strategy to actually turn things around?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I'd note that actually school attendance we have seen decline in since 2015. I note that a select committee in Parliament recently had a look at some of the contributing factors to that decline and the significant changes in the way that we manage truancy as a result of the National Government's reforms in 2013 have been seen to be a contributing factor. That is not to say the fact that we have had a decline since 2015—COVID has made it worse.Chris Bishop: No.Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Apparently COVID is not a contributing factor to attendance issues or illness—I find that striking. I would point to the fact that the member is drawing the numbers that he is referring to from a Ministry of Education report that shows that in the first week of term 1 around 90 percent of students were attending school in person nationally. It does point to the impact that COVID and absences have had but that has not stopped Government investment to turn around attendance issues.Christopher Luxon: How can she say that this is COVID-driven when the data shows that only half of the increase in non-attendance between term 4 last year and term 1 is driven by sickness and children isolating at home are marked as attending?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I point again to the fact that if you look right at the beginning of term 1 we had up to 90 percent attendance. You can see the impact that isolation illness fear of COVID and the spread of COVID has had on decision making by families. We have not stood still in the face of that: $50 million in the Urgent Response Fund in 2020 $20 million for the Attendance Service in Budget 2021 $15 million on an Auckland re-engagement package post-Delta and the $88 million attendance package in Budget 2022. I would point out that on top of that we have an aspiration—we've set our targets to get attendance back up to pre-2015 levels when I note the decline under the National Government began.Hon Chris Hipkins: Can the Prime Minister confirm that an individual student would only need to miss more than five days in a school term in order to be regarded under the official statistics that the Opposition leader just quoted as not regularly attending"?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Yes regular attendance is defined as 90 percent or nine out of 10 days. Given the season that we're in at present with some of the worst seasonal illnesses that we have seen in decades there is no question that it has had an impact on attendance. That is on top of the decline we've seen since 2015 and I would ask for a little self-reflection around the impacts of the changes to attendance services which took away from the ability of schools and communities to work on attendance issues to a national model which obviously did not help. We have invested in turning around those services and are committed to seeing attendance—regular attendance—return to those pre-2015 levels. [Interruption]Christopher Luxon: Does she accept that—SPEAKER: Order! Order! The Minister for Pacific Peoples will stand and apologise. It's bad enough that he interjected but to take his mask off in order to interject was outrageous.Hon Aupito William Sio: I apologise.SPEAKER: And I think while we've got this we had some experience yesterday of what happened when members did not come to order when asked. Clearly it will be more serious if the same thing happens when the Leader of the Opposition is asking a question.Christopher Luxon: Does she accept that having 100000 children chronically absent from school missing at least three days in every 10 is a social and economic disaster in the making?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We wouldn't have set our targets to return attendance levels to pre-2015 levels unless we were deeply concerned about what we are seeing. As I've said there's been an issue since then. COVID has made it worse and we've put the funding in to turn it around. I'd be very interested to hear the proposals the member's had because if he is concerned about equality issues then clearly he would support the significant investment we have made to try and reduce child poverty and inequality in New Zealand as one of many contributing factors to attendance issues.Christopher Luxon: Why did the Government wait five years to release an attendance strategy?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I have already read out in this House you can see we've been investing in attendance initiatives for some time as a Government. I would also point out that he cannot underestimate the impact of issues like removing school donations to try and reduce any barriers to participation; healthy food in schools which anecdotally staff and principals report to us they see as encouraging attendance; period products in schools so again because we hear often from schools a concern that that can be a barrier to attendance; making sure our curriculum is keeping our young people stimulated and engaged; and access to digital devices. There is not one single thing that we must be doing; there are many. On top of that we have recently attached significant ambitious goals to return attendance levels to where they should be.Christopher Luxon: Does she agree with Ministry of Social Development Bay of Plenty regional commissioner Mike Bryant who told the Bay of Plenty Times that some of the children not attending school were simply waiting until they turn 18 so they can sign up for the benefit?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Look I cannot directly reflect on any claims by a member about what someone may or may not have said but what I reject is casting aspersions across those families who from time to time may require the support of Government for different circumstances in their lives—that that means that they lack ambition for their kids. I can tell you in my many years of working across these issues I see consistently parents who always want better for their children.SPEAKER: Order! Order! Sorry I'm going to let the member go but I do want to just make it clear to the Prime Minister that unless there is evidence to the contrary where a member does make a statement in the House as the Leader of the Opposition did it should be accepted.Christopher Luxon: Does she believe there is any connection between the increase in truancy and the increase in young people going on to a benefit that's happened since she became Prime Minister?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I note the member doesn't think that there's any connection between COVID and attendance issues which I find surprising. I again look at the statistics that we have that show as a percentage of the working-age population we have a lower percentage of New Zealanders in the working-age population drawing down benefits now than we did in the same period in the aftermath of the global financial crisis (GFC). So that demonstrates to me that when we see an economic shock—and in fact I would argue this is worse—you're actually seeing lower rates relative to that period.Hon Chris Hipkins: Has the Government recently received advice suggesting that a small decline in the number of students achieving NCEA at the most senior levels has been driven by senior secondary school students leaving school early to take up paid employment because of low unemployment rates?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Yes and of course you would expect that. In these periods you do see for instance fewer often taking up skills and trade training because they have employment opportunities. That has not stopped us from seeing since we came into Government 190000 people taking up free apprenticeships and targeted trade training—a 55 percent increase in the number of apprentices since the pandemic—and I know that given the member is very outcomes-focused 3100 young people are in employment or training because of He Poutama Rangatahi and 4700 in employment because of Mana in Mahi. These are young people taking the opportunities available to them in meaningful training and education.Christopher Luxon: Can she explain why with staff shortages in almost every sector the number of Kiwis under 25 on jobseeker support for longer than a year has doubled under this Government?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: You look at the unemployment rates for instance in areas where we've traditionally seen a greater burden in an economic crisis on Māori and Pacific—something like half the rate of the unemployment levels we saw post-GFC. Do we have work to do as a nation for disparities for young people who are NEETs? For Pasifika and Māori we do but relative to previous economic crises you can see the difference that a specific focus in investment as this Government has made has made on those outcomes.Christopher Luxon: Isn't it the case that with widespread labour shortages job seeker numbers should be at record lows not 50000 higher than when she became Prime Minister?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Again I come back to the point of comparison that makes the most sense in these times—even though I would argue the COVID economic recovery is far more difficult in scale and quantum and you see that globally than necessarily the GFC—and we still have record numbers of people coming off benefits and into work and we still see a lower percentage of the working-age population on Government support. At the same time we are working very hard to reform our skills and trade training sector to make sure that they are meeting the needs of employers and our young people. But given the member's focused on outputs I'm sure he would be interested—again referring to the numbers of the significant increase in trades training whereas in the GFC we saw those sectors bottom out and we are still paying the price."