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 he stand by all of his Government's statements and actions?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Prime Minister): Yes particularly the action this Government has taken on the housing crisis that we inherited in 2017. We have reversed the decline of public home numbers by adding 13000 new public homes including 10000 new builds and delivering 4000 transitional houses. We've incentivised new builds to reverse the housing deficit with building consents reaching record levels over our time in Government. We've tipped the balance in favour of first-home buyers—so that they are a larger share of the market—by increasing the first-home grants removing the house price caps from first-home loans and banning foreign speculators from purchasing existing New Zealand homes. Let me be clear banning foreign property speculators has made a difference. If it was reversed it would put our first-home buyers at the back of the queue which is where they were under the last National Government. Christopher Luxon: Isn't it embarrassing that having spent half a billion dollars of taxpayers' money to restructure the health system polling reported in the Post this morning shows that 70 percent of New Zealanders say that the health system has got worse?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: It's desperate times for the National Party when they're quoting their own pollster in the House.Christopher Luxon: Which failure in health does he think is most responsible for the 70 percent of Kiwis saying the health system is worse; is it the record wait times in emergency departments the thousands of Kiwis on surgical wait-lists or the collapse in childhood immunisations?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: It's a tragic day when the National Party can't find any evidence to back up its arguments in the House other than jacked-up polls done by their own pollster. Christopher Luxon: Go talk to some people. How is it possible that he can spend $5 billion more on education only for 81 percent of Kiwis to say that there has been no improvement since the last election with 57 percent saying it's actually got worse?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Of course the biggest driver of the increased spending in education is the increased salaries. The question that the member asked probably explains why teachers got such paltry pay rises under the last National Government and why it's been up to us to make sure that their wages have been catching up. I am very proud of the fact that teachers' salaries at the top end of the salary scale—which for secondary and primary teachers is most of the teachers—have gone up so significantly under our Government from somewhere around 70 grand to over a $100000 a year. Christopher Luxon: Which of his failures in education does he think is influencing Kiwis the most: his broken polytechnic mega-merger the record number of Kiwi kids not in school or the abysmal decline in basic skills like literacy and numeracy? Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I will make no apology for the work the Government has done to clean up the mess in vocational education that we inherited from the last Government where almost all of our polytechnics were going broke and probably wouldn't still be around if we hadn't stepped in to bail them out.Christopher Luxon: Who is right: the 64 percent of New Zealanders who say that the criminal justice system has got worse since the last election or the Minister of Police Ginny Andersen who says New Zealanders feel safer?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: If the member is going to continue to quote Ministers out of the full context of their quotes that can go both ways. We could start quoting him out of context as well.Christopher Luxon: Why does he think Kiwis have totally lost faith in his Government on law and order; is it the 107 percent increase in serious assaults two ram raids every day or the 70 percent increase in gang membership?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: What New Zealanders can have confidence in is when it comes to issues like violent crime we are making sure that that violent crime is actually being reported. One of the biggest drivers of the increase in violent crime reporting has been an increase in reporting of domestic violence. That is something that the members opposite don't like to talk about; it's something that actually we should acknowledge. More people are reporting domestic violence than they used to. I actually think that that is an encouraging sign that New Zealanders' tolerance for that kind of violent crime is no longer what it used to be. That is a good thing.Christopher Luxon: Isn't it obvious that whether it's health education or law and order it doesn't matter how much taxpayer money it spends this incompetent Labour Government is simply incapable of delivering better outcomes for New Zealanders?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Once again the member fails to acknowledge where the extra spending is going. Actually if we look at health and we look at education one of the biggest drivers of the increase in spending is that we are paying people properly something the last National Government did not do. For those people who lose their jobs if National gets in and decides to cut public spending to pay for tax cuts the tax cuts won't mean very much at all.