1. Question No. 1—Prime MinisterHon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Prime Minister1. Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government's statements policies and actions?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Following the three-week recess yes. Hon Simon Bridges: In light of the median rent increasing by $50 under her watch does she now agree with the advice of her officials that her Government's policies such as higher taxes and regulations on landlords would drive up rents? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: No. Hon Simon Bridges: Why has her Government legislated for 23.5c of petrol tax increases in Auckland and 12c of petrol tax increases across the rest of New Zealand while at the same time stalling postponing or cancelling 12 major roading projects? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The member will be talking about the unfunded roading projects that he had as a Government and of course our policy on excise was not too dissimilar to the last Government. Excise is what allows us to make record investment into regional roads road safety initiatives and public transport to try and deal with the congestion that you'll see many Aucklanders are complaining about because there's been a lack of decent infrastructure investment. Hon Simon Bridges: Does she accept there are more New Zealand families struggling to keep up with the cost of living since she became Prime Minister? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Actually I'll fall back on what some of the numbers tell us. Under National's first term wages rose around 2.1 percent a year; under our first term wages are projected to rise to 3.2 percent. Also add to that the increase in the minimum wage that we've made up to $17.70 an hour. Add to that the changes to the family tax credit the changes with the winter energy payment the Best Start payment and paid parental leave that on average mean that families are $75 a week better off for over 380000 families. We absolutely acknowledge cost of living pressure issues which is why we've targeted low and middle income families. We've also done things through education to for instance remove NCEA fees and school donations for decile 7 and below and make it cheaper to go to the doctor. Hon Simon Bridges: In light of her numbers does she accept the number of hardship grants are up 71 percent since she became Prime Minister? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I absolutely acknowledge those numbers. What we won't do unlike the last Government is do anything to try and hide that. In fact one of the statements we made when we first came in was that we absolutely believed we weren't seeing the actual need. So we made a very public statement that those in need should come forward and we made a very clear instruction to Work and Income: meet the need that you see. That is exactly what the numbers are demonstrating. Hon Simon Bridges: Isn't the real reason those hardship grants are up 71 percent because under her Government's policies the costs of living such as rent and petrol have increased and the economy is sharply weakening meaning there are more people without jobs? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: No. Hon Simon Bridges: Does she agree with Andrew Little who in 2017 after a 14 percent rise in hardship grants said it's A sad commentary for the Government's handling of the economy and how it prioritises the wellbeing of the poorest in New Zealand. Kiwis are doing it tougher and this Government has no plan to help."?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: There was no plan to help them. Hon Simon Bridges: Well if she agrees does she think her Government is much more deserving of criticism given hardship grants haven't increased 14 percent but 71 percent in just 20 or so months under her watch? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: No. Hon Simon Bridges: How many more people are on the dole now compared to this time last year?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: When you look at the proportion of people on a benefit relative to the working-age population from memory it's around 9.7 percent. It was up over 10 percent five years ago so we're still lower than we were under the last member being in office.Hon Paula Bennett: No. How many—SPEAKER: Order! I'm going to remind the deputy Leader of the Opposition of Speaker's ruling 174/7 and tell her that she's not responsible for ensuring proper answers.Hon Simon Bridges: Why are there 14000 more people on the dole now than this time last year?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I could ask the member why there were more under his Government as well. Again I can also tell the member that one of the reasons of course is we believe that there hasn't been the investment in case management the kind of support that supports people into work. We've invested in more than 200 case managers to support individual applicants into work. We've also I have to say acknowledged that the Ministry of Social Development has seen over 17000 people in that period go into work as well. But in order to make sure we're comparing apples with apples it's always important to measure against the number of people who are available for work and on that measure as I've already said there are still fewer people on main benefits than there were five years ago under the National Government."