5. Youth Unemployment—Beneficiary Numbers and Employment SupportANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterYouth Unemployment—Beneficiary Numbers and Employment SupportANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition): My question is to the Prime Minister. Has he sought an explanation from Paula Bennett as to why the—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Could I just ask the—[Interruption] Order! Could I just ask the member to read the question as it is on the sheet. [Interruption] Order! Rt Hon John Key: You have to ask the primary before you ask the supp—that's the way it works.Mr SPEAKER: Order! And none of us needs the advice and assistance from the Prime Minister. ANDREW LITTLE: The Prime Minister might want to spend more time on the Cabinet Manual than he does on the Standing Orders. My question is to the Prime Minister—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! We have now spent enough time with interjections coming from both sides of the House. If I need to get a bit more forceful I can do so.5. ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Has he sought an explanation from the Minister for Social Development as to why the number of 18- to 24-year-olds receiving the Jobseeker Support - Work Ready payment who have been on a benefit for more than a year is rising?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): No.Andrew Little: Why are there 30 percent more young people on the job seeker allowance today than in 2012?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I cannot verify that number but what I can verify is that the number of 18- to 20-year-olds on job seeker support has fallen by 14 percent over the last 5 years.Andrew Little: I seek leave to table a document from the Parliamentary Library showing the 18- to 24-year-old job seeker numbers calculation from 2012 to 2016 showing that 30 percent increase.Mr SPEAKER: I will put the leave. Leave is sought to table that particular document. Is there any objection? There is objection.Andrew Little: Why are there 11400 more young people not in employment education or training now than in 2008?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I cannot verify those numbers but the truth is that Labour cannot verify its own numbers even when it calls it a policy.Andrew Little: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. [Interruption] Mr SPEAKER: Order! This is a point of order and it will be heard in silence.Andrew Little: I seek leave to table calculations made by the Parliamentary Library showing young people not in employment education or training from 2008 to 2016 increased by 11400.Mr SPEAKER: I will put the leave. Leave is sought to table that particular document from the Parliamentary Library. Is there any objection to it being tabled? There is. [Interruption] Order! I have put the leave. [Interruption] Order! The front bench to my right and certainly some members to my left need to settle down and minimise the interjection.Andrew Little: Why does his Government think these young people are to quote Bill English pretty damned hopeless"?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Firstly that is inaccurate but secondly actually if one looks at the people in the category of 15- to 24-year-olds what we know is that the number of people who are not in education employment or training has been dropping dramatically. In fact the 15- to 19-year-olds number is nearly at the lowest that it has been since the series was collated. Given the strength of the labour markets I would have thought the best thing to do is to ensure that those youngsters get an opportunity for a real job.Andrew Little: Does he stand by his statement that unemployed young people "just cannot muster what is required to actually work"; if so why has he given up on 74000 young New Zealanders?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I just ask the Leader of the Opposition to verify that I made that—Mr SPEAKER: Order! That is not a point of order. The question has now been disrupted. I think the only fair way forward is for me to invite the member to ask the question again.Andrew Little: Does he stand by his statement that unemployed young people "just cannot muster what is required to actually work"; if so why has he given up on 74000 young New Zealanders?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: If it is a genuine quote and not made up I would have to see in what context it was made.Andrew Little: When will he stop talking down our young people as lazy and drug-addled and instead invest in their futures and get them ready for work—just as Labour is proposing to do?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well if one looks at the economic reforms undertaken by this Government and the results of them you would have to say that they are pretty stunning. They include an unemployment rate that is the lowest since 2008; 357000 more jobs since 2009—35000 jobs in the last quarter; and more people in apprenticeship training than we have seen in a very long time—42000. Far from talking down young New Zealanders we are creating opportunities for them. Just because the Leader of the Opposition cannot actually get a policy right at his 100th annual conference and is now being known as "Angry Andrew" with the—Mr SPEAKER: Order! We have certainly gone far enough now. [Interruption] Order! I do not want to hear that interjection across the House.Darroch Ball: Can he confirm that the National - New Zealand First coalition Government in 1996 included New Zealand First's community wage scheme which was aimed at providing minimum-wage work for long-term beneficiaries like clearing waterways for the Department of Conservation (DOC)?Mr SPEAKER: Order! No. There is just no prime ministerial responsibility for that at all. [Interruption] Order! I have made a ruling. It is not open to debate. If the member has a fresh point of order I am only too happy to hear it. But if it is in any way questioning where we have just been—Darroch Ball: Can I rephrase it?Mr SPEAKER: I think that is a very wise decision by the member.Darroch Ball: Has he seen any reports that can confirm that the National - New Zealand First coalition Government in 1996 included New Zealand First's community wage scheme which was aimed at providing minimum-wage work for long-term beneficiaries like clearing waterways for DOC?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Yes. I have seen a report that said that when one looked at the calibre of the New Zealand First members that became part of that Cabinet that truly was a make-believe—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! If Mr Chris Bishop wishes to stay for the rest of the day then when I rise to my feet he shuts up.Darroch Ball: Has he seen reports that show that the New Zealand First community wage scheme from the coalition agreement bears an uncanny resemblance to a newly announced policy Ready for Work—the very policy that Labour scrapped in 2001—putting those 18- to 24-year-olds who were on the scheme back on the dole with nothing?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No. But what I can say is 20 years on if one looks at the state of the labour markets given how many jobs are being created I think the average New Zealander would say that it makes a lot more sense to put those youngsters into a real job which they are actually in the process of getting in quite record numbers as opposed to sending them bush."