2. Question No. 2—Prime MinisterNICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 2—Prime Minister2. NICOLA WILLIS (Deputy Leader—National) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all of her Government's statements and actions?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Prime Minister) on behalf of the Prime Minister: On behalf of the Prime Minister yes particularly our work to improve access to mental wellbeing services by expanding the school-based Mana Ake wellbeing programme to more than 3000 primary- and intermediate-aged school children living on the West Coast. Mana Ake is a school-based programme that gives around 195000 children the skills and support to deal with issues that include grief loss parental separation and bullying. It also provides advice guidance and workshops for parents whānau and teachers. Budget 2022 provided $90 million of funding over four years for the Mana Ake programme to enable ongoing service delivery in Canterbury and Kaikōura and start new services in Northland Counties Manukau Bay of Plenty Lakes and on the West Coast.Nicola Willis: Does she stand by her statement in May this year that We are not doing any work on any additional tax policy." and how does she reconcile that statement with Cabinet's decision to change KiwiSaver tax policy?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister every Government in every year through Inland Revenue will look at ways to refine and improve the tax system. If the member is seriously suggesting that no work should be done around tax integrity or tax avoidance issues that perhaps speaks more to the member's priorities.Nicola Willis: Has she asked the Minister of Revenue about what other new revenue-gathering taxes he might be cooking up and if not why not?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister the Prime Minister stays in contact with her Ministers on a regular basis and is very confident in the work of the Minister of Revenue.Nicola Willis: Is she aware that the Minister of Revenue has a new IRD unit of six full-time employees working on a capital gains research project and can she explain to New Zealanders what the purpose of this unit is if not to cook up new taxes?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister the Prime Minister is not aware of what the member has said. What the Prime Minister is aware of is that the Minister of Revenue has been undertaking work which was publicised at the time of the Budget to make sure that all New Zealanders pay their fair share of tax—that we know is not an issue that's important to the National Party given their tax policy.Nicola Willis: Well in light of that statement and the Prime Minister's attraction to this capital gains unit will she rule out introducing tax changes for residential property?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister the Prime Minister has been very clear that there are no new taxes being created by this Government beyond that on which we campaigned. Given that the Leader of the Opposition is now taking his policy advice from the Minister of Finance can I suggest that the National Party would be better off focusing on whether or not giving tax cuts to the wealthiest New Zealanders represents good policy. I might do a general debate on that next time.Nicola Willis: Are you regretting the last general debate? Was Cabinet informed of any alternative—SPEAKER: The member knows that she shouldn't start supplementaries with a narrative of the previous answer to the question that's been considered. Consider yourself told off!Nicola Willis: Was Cabinet informed of any alternative options for dealing with KiwiSaver GST—for example option three from this regulatory impact statement which proposed simply making all KiwiSaver fees exempt from GST providing the Minister of Revenue's much-sought consistency and reducing the tax burden by $20 million?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister all of the options that were considered by the Minister of Revenue and other Ministers had both pros and cons. The example that the member gives would have seen smaller New Zealand providers potentially be far worse off than the current status quo situation. I repeat for the member: if the member wants to think about tax policy that is going to make New Zealanders better off she should consider taking the advice of the Minister of Finance and ditching a tax cut for the highest-earning New Zealanders.Nicola Willis: Who does she blame for yesterday's KiwiSaver tax debacle: the Minister of Revenue for proposing it the Minister of Finance for encouraging it or herself for leading the Cabinet that agreed to it?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister Inland Revenue throughout its history will look at proposals to be able to refine and improve the tax system. Where there is good public policy to make consistent the tax system the Government will look at that. In this case that particular policy was not appreciated by those that it was designed to help and ran the risk because of the way it was being interpreted of undermining the KiwiSaver system.Nicola Willis: When will that Prime Minister seek to ever make anyone responsible for their failures in her Government including the cost of living payment being paid out to ineligible people and a new tax on KiwiSaver that went to wipe a hundred billion dollars of New Zealanders' savings?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On behalf of the Prime Minister I stand by the record of the Government in making sure that we got New Zealanders through COVID; that we have an unemployment rate of 3.3 percent one of the lowest in our history; and we have one of the lowest levels of public debt in the world. This Government is standing alongside New Zealanders. Today New Zealanders will get the second tranche of the cost of living payment for those earning less than $70000 a year. The member used to think it was important to look after those people. She doesn't want to do anything in that direction; she wants to cut taxes for the highest-income earners. We are the ones who have stepped up to support low and middle income earners."