Ardern Jacinda: General Debate 
Ardern Jacinda: General Debate 
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JACINDA ARDERN (Labour) 
: 
 I think the message is clear this afternoon. If anyone wants to witness how out of touch this Government is they need merely watch the general debate on a Wednesday. When people tune in they will not hear a discussion about the $16 billion deficit. They will not hear the Government’s plan to deal with rising unemployment. They will not hear any discussion about inequality levels or the increasing cost of living. No instead they will hear Anne Tolley make jokes about postcards they will hear Phil Heatley try to make jokes about hobbits and then they will hear backbench open mike night via Simon Bridges. I have no idea what that was. I am sure the people who were watching unfortunately had no idea what that was. 
I think there is a much bigger issue. I do not want to allow myself to be distracted by Mr Bridges’ speech. Instead I would rather come back to the point that this week in the House we had an acknowledgment from the Minister of Labour that living on the minimum wage in this country is very very difficult. In fact she talked about the tight budget that many of those living on the minimum wage are experiencing. I would say though that the use of the term “tight budget” almost implies that there is some choice for householders whereas the Hon Annette King talked about the stark choices people are making: fix a broken tooth or eat. Those are kinds of choices that Kiwis are currently making. That is not just a tight budget. 
Living on the minimum wage has now become a lot harder under this Government. Not only are we seeing an increase in prices of almost 5 percent; we are seeing increases in ACC and in rent per week of almost 32 percent over the past 3 years. 
For university students the cost of studying has increased by 16 percent. We see the impact of that on young people. Student hardship grants have increased by 423 percent over the past few years and much of that increase is due to an increase in the cost of food for those students who are struggling to survive. So I ask the Minister of Labour this question: if she acknowledges that living on the minimum wage is hard how hard will it be for a young person to live on a youth minimum wage? How hard will it be for a young person to live on less than what all Kiwis on the minimum wage are currently surviving on? The Government has acknowledged that it is considering the option of a youth minimum wage. This is apparently part of the Government’s cogent plan on jobs. I think it probably speaks more to the point that everything the Government has done thus far has not had the impact required to bring down record high levels of youth unemployment—now 27 percent. 
Labour says that paying young people less is not the answer. In response we say that is a cop-out. It is an acknowledgment that the Government does not have the answers and does not have a plan to create jobs. The Government thinks its only option is to try to pay young people less in order to switch round the unemployment issue. 
The Minister has openly stated that if we pay young people less then employers might be more inclined to employ young people instead of say 30-year-olds but that acknowledgment would potentially shift the unemployment issue from one age group to another. How does that overall help New Zealand and Kiwis who are out of jobs and looking for work? It does not. I would be happy for any Government member to explain to me how youth wage rates bring down unemployment across the board. I would be happy to hear any evidence whatsoever. 
I have some evidence I would like to present to the Government. It is the cold hard fact that the lowest levels of youth unemployment were achieved under the last Labour Government and it was after youth wage rates were abolished. Youth wage rates have absolutely nothing to do with youth unemployment. In fact we have evidence from the Department of Labour that suggests there is no robust correlation between youth wage rates and youth unemployment. In fact the 1990s as members will well remember when National was last in Government was the last time that youth unemployment was as high as it is now. We had youth wage rates. It is time the Government acknowledged that it is out of ideas and that this measure will not help young people.