Key John: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Key John: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:619;Page:15107] 
10.  
JOHN KEY (National—Helensville) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: Does he stand by his answer to written question No. 8943(2004) which indicates that by 2007 50 percent of people receiving the accommodation supplement as a result of the Government’s Working for Families package will be single people with no dependent children; if not why not? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 As the member knows because I have already sent him a revised answer to the question the answer is no. Officials had not included in their original answer the effects of changes to eligibility as a result of the Working for Families package and had not indicated that fact to me. 
John Key 
: What reasons would lead the Minister to believe that it is fair and logical that in 2007 150 single people with no dependent children and earning between and $40000 and $80000 a year will receive the accommodation supplement under the Government’s Working for Families package while at the same time 88 percent of the families earning between $25000 and $45000 a year will receive not 1c towards their accommodation? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Of the number of families that the member refers to my calculation is that roughly one half of 1 percent—no less than that; a good deal less than that—of those are receiving the accommodation supplement. No doubt they are people with extremely high accommodation costs presumably primarily in the central Auckland area. The accommodation supplement is based on the system brought into place by the previous National Government. 
Janet Mackey 
: Who benefits from the Working for Families package? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: The Working for Families package puts more money in the pockets of nearly 300000 low and middle income families and that will total about $1.1 billion a year at its full implementation. The accommodation assistance part of that package is a little under one-seventh of the total. 
Rodney Hide 
: In respect of benefits can the Minister confirm that there are 900000 New Zealanders in total on welfare benefits superannuation accident compensation and student allowances and that there will be 150000 working families getting family credits which makes over a million New Zealanders who are hooked into full or partial Government support and does he think it is a good outcome to have one in three adults dependent on the State for their income? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: As the member himself noted nearly half of that total number are superannuitants. Perhaps it is ACT’s policy to have incentives for work for those who are 85 or 95 years old but it is not the policy of this Government. 
John Key 
: What are the exact criteria that allow the 150 single people with no dependent children who earn between $40000 and $80000 a year to get an accommodation supplement under the Government’s Working for Families package while thousands of low-income families in New Zealand will miss out? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Like all targeted mechanisms they are based on need. The primary criteria for the accommodation supplement were developed under the National Government in the 1990s. 
John Key 
: Why did the Government’s Working for Families fact sheet No. 3 state that 15000 extra people will get the accommodation supplement when in fact the Minister’s own answers to my office state that around one-third of that number will get it; and why will half of the $478 million that will be spent on the Working for Families package accommodation supplement in the next 3 and a bit years be given to people with no children who are single and who earn up to $80000 per year? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: That was a very long question and I will try to give a short answer. As the member said only 150 families come into that new group of “super-rich”—as he outlined in National Party terms—earning about $40000 or $50000 a year. I note that that income is well under that of the top tax rate which we are usually told is being imposed on people with very modest incomes. The vast bulk of people receiving the supplement are people on very low incomes but to qualify for that supplement they must have a very high level of rental. The single people he refers to include a wide range of people including single superannuitants. If the member wants to attack little old ladies let him go and do it. 
John Key 
: What is the right answer in terms of the percentage of the Working for Families package that will go to those New Zealanders who are on benefits as opposed to those who are working: the 33 percent number that the Minister talked about around Budget day the 40-odd percent number that the Minister actually rolled out some days after he was challenged on that or the numbers that look as though they could be in excess of that from all the answers he has sent to my office? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: The accurate answer is around 40 percent. I also tell the member that of the 21600 families and people who will be eligible for accommodation—[ 
Interruption 
] I tell Dr Smith that I have already answered that if he had bothered to listen. Of the additional 21600 people who will be eligible for the accommodation supplement as a result of the eligibility changes 14900 are families with children.