King Annette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
King Annette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:671;Page:17666] 
4. 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he stand by his statement “this Government is not prepared to turn its back on our most vulnerable citizens when they most need our help”? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Yes which is why in difficult economic times we have maintained and increased benefits superannuation and income support for families and why we have continued to increase funding for important public services like health and education. 
Hon Annette King 
: What is he prepared to do to assist New Zealanders who are most in need in light of reports over the weekend that a boy was found eating cockroaches because he was starving and that the budgeting services are receiving reports of pensioners eating cat food as the cost of living keeps going up at a rapid rate? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I have seen another report in relation to the boy involved and I understand that the case could be an issue of neglect not one of family income support. The Government obviously supports not only a benefit-based system for those who find themselves in need but also significant hardship grants. As we have seen in the case of Christchurch we have put a quarter of a billion dollars into funding support for Christchurch people in the first 14 weeks since the earthquake. 
Hon Annette King 
: Is he aware that many low-income families cannot afford even a basic nutritious diet for their children especially if there are teenagers in the household who need far more food according to the latest vulnerability report from the Council of Christian Social Services; if so what will he do to help those families who are struggling 5 months after the Government’s tax cuts took effect which were supposed to make most people better off? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: The price of food moves around quite a lot. It is highly volatile. So some things go up in price and some things go down in price. The Government has been putting more money into budgeting services to try to give people help and support. We also fund a significant number of emergency grants as the member will be aware on top of the basic benefit system. 
Hon Annette King 
: If that answer from the Prime Minister is correct can he then explain why the Salvation Army in Whangarei has seen an increase of 90 percent in food parcels since the New Year and is now having to ration them to one per family? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I have not seen the report and I have not seen the details from Whangarei. But I will say that my experience in being involved in organisations that give food parcels shows that a lot of them do have a system where they do not allow people to have too many in a certain time—they do not want to build dependency. 
Hon Annette King 
: What will he do to help the increasing number of people in need of help as shown by the 37 percent increase in food bank clients at the Catholic Family Support Services of Hamilton the Glen Eden food bank giving out 73 food parcels in 3 hours and the demand for Salvation Army food parcels rising by 16 percent last year indicating that there are a large number of vulnerable New Zealanders who are not reducing in terms of their need for help under this Government? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: The Government can stand on a very proud record of keeping benefit entitlements and making sure that payments are made to all vulnerable New Zealanders despite running a very very large deficit as a result of very poor economic conditions. I think that if ever a Government could be excused for cutting costs it would be this Government because there is not a lot of money around. 
Hon Annette King 
: From the poorest? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Well right across the board. But this Government has actually maintained all that support. 
Hon Annette King 
: Is he prepared to accompany me on one of my visits to a food bank so he can listen to those people who work on the front line and determine whether people are making poor lifestyle choices as he has claimed? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I regularly go out and see social services. Despite what is a highly attractive offer from the deputy leader of the Labour Party no I do not want to hang around with her at any time to be perfectly honest.