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): Absolutely and I particularly stand by our actions to extend 20 hours of free early childhood education to two-year-olds saving those families as much as $133 each week; make public transport free for kids and half price for more than a million young New Zealanders and low-income New Zealanders; remove prescription costs for all New Zealanders; invest in climate mitigation through the Climate Emergency Response Fund; pass fair pay agreements to grow wages and improve productivity; and tackle housing speculation so that first-home buyers get a fair shot by banning foreign buyers in the market increasing the brightline test and removing interest deductibility. I note that all of those things—all of that progress—would be reversed under a National Government as they make deep cuts to our public services. I do also note that without the Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry (GIDI) and without the clean car discount the Opposition would need to find around an extra 8 million tonnes of emissions reductions by 2030 just to stay on our current course let alone make any progress in tackling the climate emergency. It would appear that the first casualty of National's alternative reality is the climate. They seem to have completely given up—completely given up on tackling climate change.David Seymour: Point of order. Entertaining as it is to watch a man dig the Standing Orders are very clear that answers should contain no more argumentations or information than is necessary to address the question. Now it seems the Prime Minister is giving longer and longer answers that are more designed for politics than actually enlightening the House about Does he stand by statements and actions or not?". SPEAKER: Order! The member's actually correct. The Prime Minister's not responsible for all of the comments about the National Party policy and he should not be making those comments. Also—and I agree with David Seymour. However I have noted also the increase in a lot of behaviour including supplementaries that are so far out of order even I feel like I should jump up and rule them out of order. Which is—when one reflects on the previous Speaker that would have happened a lot sooner. So this is what I'm going to suggest that we do: what's good for one side is going to be good for the other side. If members don't like that you tell me and I'll intervene and I'll intervene on both sides. So your choice.Christopher Luxon: Why hasn't his Government adjusted income tax brackets for six years despite inflation of over 22 percent pushing more and more working Kiwis in the squeezed middle into higher tax brackets?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The main thing that's pushed people into higher tax brackets is that they are earning more under this Government. I note the National Party seem to hate the idea that people's wages have been growing as fast as they have been under this Government so they are promising for example a minimum wage earner 25c an hour in a tax cut despite the fact that the minimum wage has gone up nearly $7 an hour under this Government—every one of those increases opposed by the National Party.Christopher Luxon: Why did his Government choose to increase spending by 80 percent instead of choosing to let Kiwis in the squeezed middle keep more of what they earn with meaningful tax relief?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: We've chosen to invest in our people including through our public services. We have made the decision to pay our doctors more to pay our nurses more to pay our teachers more to pay our police more to make sure we're investing in the public services that New Zealanders rely on and to tackle some of the long-lasting legacy of the under-investment that we inherited when we became the Government including recruiting more people into essential jobs like doctors like nurses like teachers. I know the National Party solution to that now appears to be to slap a talent tax on those very people we're desperate to recruit.Christopher Luxon: Does he think it's fair that someone on the minimum wage who chooses to work a few extra hours a week is now paying tax at 30c on the dollar?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: What I think is fair is that this Government has made sure that the minimum wage has been keeping up with increasing costs: nearly $7 an hour increase in the minimum wage under our Government versus a paltry 25c an hour being promised by the National Opposition. I note the minimum wage barely moved under the last National Government relative to the costs that minimum-wage earners were facing. Under our Government minimum-wage earners are getting ahead.Christopher Luxon: Does he believe the squeezed middle deserve income tax relief from the cost of living crisis or would he rather go on spending more of their money while incredibly delivering even worse outcomes?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: What I think New Zealanders deserve and I think all middle-income New Zealanders deserve is to understand the consequences of the policies that are being put before them at this election. The smoke and mirrors exercise we've seen where the National Party proposes to give a certain amount with one hand and takes a larger amount with another hand thus leaving families worse off isn't going to actually support the squeezed middle.Christopher Luxon: If it's so easy for Grant Robertson to find $4 billion of wasteful spending 46 days out from an election why on earth couldn't he find any savings over the last six years to offer hard-working Kiwis in the squeezed middle a single dollar of tax relief?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The member's question itself is an absolute fiction. The entire time we've been in Government we've been looking for savings. Every Budget that we have produced has contained savings within it. We have been constantly focused on making sure New Zealanders are getting value for money from the taxes they pay and that does mean investing to make up for the neglect of our public services that we saw before we became the Government.Christopher Luxon: Does he accept that if he'd made any attempt to rein in wasteful spending over the last six years he could have given hard-working Kiwis meaningful tax relief?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I note that the member repeatedly says that increased wages for doctors teachers nurses and police is wasted spending. I'm looking forward to having that debate with him on the campaign trail.Christopher Luxon: How can he have any confidence in his flailing finance Minister and his Government's economic policies when National has just delivered a fully funded tax plan that delivers meaningful tax relief to the squeezed middle without increasing inflation without borrowing more and without cutting a single dollar for health and education?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I welcome the member's invitation to provide further comment on the National Party's fiction of a plan that they released this morning—for example their multiplication by four of all of the numbers that are put out in their plan this morning; the incorporation of the good ideas of this side of the House when it comes to increasing Working For Families which they now seem to be telling New Zealanders they would only get if there was a change of Government when in fact this side of the House has already committed to those changes. But I do note in their somewhat heroic assumptions around their revenue that they seem to be wanting to massively increase the number of foreign buyers of housing and they want to significantly by a significant magnitude increase the amount of overseas-based gambling in New Zealand. I don't think that that's a particularly good way of aiming to fund tax cuts."