1. Question No. 1—Prime MinisterHon JUDITH COLLINS (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Prime Minister1. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (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): Mālō e lelei Mr Speaker. Yes. I especially stand by this Government's work alongside the Government of Spain the European Union and Pfizer to secure over a quarter of a million additional vaccine doses which are due to land in Auckland tomorrow morning. The welcome news means we continue pushing ahead in our vaccination roll-out that in recent weeks has seen record demand. This is just one more step we're taking to ensure as many New Zealanders as possible can get vaccinated as soon as possible.Hon Judith Collins: What impact does the Government expect the current COVID-19 outbreak to have on the forecast debt track? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Oh of course some of that will depend on the ongoing financial supports that are provided over the course of the outbreak and some of that is dependent on how long we are in different alert levels. Whilst I have had briefings on those and have some of those figures in my mind I would want to ensure that I was giving the correct assumptions alongside them. If the member chooses to put something on notice I'm happy to answer those. What I would say broadly speaking though is that because we have been tracking a lot more positively against some of the Treasury's original forecasting in many cases some of that debt tracking is actually sitting even beneath where some of those original forecasts were.Hon Judith Collins: Does she then agree with Treasury that if spending trends continue it will put Government debt on an unsustainable path; if so what is her plan to achieve a sustainable debt path?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I would want to see—as I have said that doesn't actually square with some of the more recent briefings I've seen that demonstrate that even with some of the response to the existing outbreak—[Interruption]SPEAKER: Order! Order!Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: None of that squares with the briefings I've seen from Treasury that say even taking into account the response to the most recent outbreak we're actually sitting beneath some of their original forecasting around the impacts on debt of COVID-19 on the Government books. So I would want more context on the briefing the member has probably randomly plucked that statement from.Hon Judith Collins: Can she rule out using further tax increases to get debt back on a sustainable path?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We've already been very clear on our expectations over the course of this term. No we will not be increasing taxes. We didn't campaign on doing that and we did that of course knowing the impacts of COVID-19 and our various preparations we would need for the response to COVID-19. What I would point out is that we have been in a good position to deal with this outbreak for the very purpose that we kept in reserve in the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund the ability to manage any further outbreaks whereas I recall the member campaigning on spending that fund on roading.Hon Grant Robertson: Can the Prime Minister confirm that not only is net core Crown debt in New Zealand tracking below budget forecasts but New Zealand's level of net core Crown debt sits at one of the lowest in the OECD?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Yes I can and of course that takes into account not only the starting point for New Zealand before going into COVID-19 but also the way that we've tracked relative to other OECD nations in the course of our response to COVID-19.Hon Judith Collins: Does she intend to return Government spending as a percentage of the overall economy back to pre-pandemic levels and if not what is her long-term spending target?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I'd note that not even that member's finance spokespeople have promoted the idea of retaining debt levels at pre-pandemic levels. I don't know that I've seen any member of her caucus in fact advocate for that.Hon Judith Collins: Point of order. I was very clear asking the Prime Minister about her long-term spending target not about the National Party's.SPEAKER: I think the Prime Minister could provide a fuller answer to the actual question. Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Would the member mind repeating the question?Hon Judith Collins: Does she intend to return Government spending as a percentage of the overall economy back to pre-pandemic levels; if not what is her long-term spending target?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: What I will say is that we have been committed to keeping spending levels at a rate that is required in order to support our recovery from COVID-19 and that of course has meant that we have made decisions that yes have led us to take additional debt on but at a rate that is far less than we've seen from some of our counterparts. We've made that commitment because those are the very investment decisions that are ensuring that we're keeping people connected to work. It's the very investment decisions that have allowed us to put in place the wage subsidy the resurgence support scheme—all of those things that in fact will enable a quicker and speedier economic recovery. So I stand by all of that. As for the longer term much of that will very much be determined by the ongoing impact of COVID-19.Hon Judith Collins: So is the Prime Minister telling the House that there is no long-term spending target?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: What I've been saying is that we have been willing to make policy decisions based on the challenges that sit in front of us and we have allowed ourselves some flexibility by keeping aside the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund something that that member did not preserve herself. In fact she already anticipated in her plans over the course of the election campaign to spend what would have been critical funding in the case of the kind of experience we're having now where that multibillion-dollar fund has been used to cover off things like the wage subsidy—a pot of money that would have been empty on her watch.Hon Judith Collins: So how much of the $50 billion COVID fund if any has been spent to date on expanding capacity at our hospitals to manage a COVID outbreak?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I'd be happy to give the member a breakdown but my recollection of the last Budget investment included things like for instance training capacity to ensure that there was additional staffing who in the case that we had surge would be able to provide ventilator support in high-dependency units for instance. Of course there's the ongoing capital investment in our hospitals that is not just for surges but has the additional benefit of providing additional ICU capacity. There's been a number of spending initiatives. If the member wishes to have a breakdown I'd be happy to bring those to the House.