1. Prime Minister—Housing and Health Services TargetsHon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSPrime Minister—Housing and Health Services Targets1. Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all of his Government's policies and actions?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Acting Prime Minister): In their context yes.Hon Simon Bridges: Does he stand by his statement that it is a target of this Government that a solo homebuyer earning the living wage should be able to get a home worth five times their annual income?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: To the extent that there was a time frame put on that aspiration which was as I told the media in the long term and to the extent that anyone who knows anything about the law knows that young people for their first home don't buy an average home; they buy down the bottom of the market for their first home which means they can easily achieve that. And guess what? The ratio is 5.8 percent now.Hon Simon Bridges: Is he aware that in Auckland this target would mean house prices falling to $213000 or the living wage increasing to $100 an hour?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: The mistake of someone who is not familiar with the housing market or the commercial market or for that matter has not had any experience in helping people to get into the market is to think that they buy average homes. No they don't Mr Bridges. I don't know about Mr Bridges' first home and maybe he was flush with money but the rest of us had to start at the bottom and work our way up.Hon Simon Bridges: Is it his Government's target to reduce Auckland house prices to $213000 on average; and if so what impact does he believe this will have on current homeowners?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: It's very hard to believe that someone would start with an absurd proposition like that. That is so ridiculous. What I said and for the information of that member over there who claims to be a lawyer as well the current low quartile of housing is at 5.8 percent—the wage I'm talking about right now. I was talking about taking it down to 5 from 5.8. That is easily achievable or to quote Hillary You just go there and you do it."Hon Simon Bridges: Does he agree with Newshub reporter Jenna Lynch that this target "announced on the hoof could be heading towards the fantastical" or with its commentator Mark Richardson that "There is more chance of the Abdominizer 2000 giving us great abs than this policy of his working."?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I was going to take that question seriously until he predicated it on a certain person in the press gallery and right then all sense of reality flew out the window.Hon Simon Bridges: Why is his Government willing to set such long-term targets for house prices but at the same time remove specific measurable targets that drive performance and accountability such as in the health sector and which will actually save lives?SPEAKER: Order! The member has to remember: two legs to the question and no statements.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Dealing with the question of the health targets the present Government inherited a series of targets which were distorted perverted false untrue and had to be changed. You had skin lesions being operated on in the public health system when they could have been in primary health for a start—a whole lot of examples like that. So being the rational sane Government that we are with a first-class health Minister we're going to find new measurable targets which will—[Interruption] just be patient—have this effect: people in this country will be far healthier as a consequence.Hon Simon Bridges: Does he not consider the public have a right to know the length of emergency department stays something which was proven to save hundreds of lives a year?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Could I say from the observation of the claimed targets that the previous Government met many of them made by public officials and expert advice they were never met in the first place but the reality is that ear nose and throat operations were down under that Government paediatric operations were down general surgery was down and investment in public health was down.Hon Simon Bridges: Did Cabinet consider either the removal of the health sector targets or the addition of the Government's new house price target he announced yesterday?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: With respect to the house price targets I was asked a question as to what I personally thought and having probably had more to do with construction and house pricing in Auckland than all of the rest over there all put together—Hon Simon Bridges: You've done it all!Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Oh yes I have. I'm not one of these people who only worked for a firm and never had ownership of it and has never been in business himself. Can I just say that that was a personal aspiration going on the present low-pricing of housing for first-home buyers which is 5.8 percent of their annual wage and usually they buy as couples so it's much more reasonable to make that assessment. That was a personal statement which I stand by and as for the health targets well the Hon David Clark came along with a system and plan and policies of hope to improve public health and Cabinet members agreed with him rather than those false targets put out there by the previous Government which were never met in the first place.Hon Simon Bridges: Does he believe his Government risks looking non-transparent and unaccountable when they ditched specific measurable targets like Better Public Services targets and the health targets but at the same time announced targets that will only ever be realised in the never-never?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: The proposition being put out by that member is a political one to try and gain some public support out there in the constituency. It won't wash of course. It won't wash because the so-called targets that they had set had this effect on the Public Service: it gave the Public Service a haircut and was a boon for all the private consultants."