Ardern Jacinda: General Debate 
Ardern Jacinda: General Debate 
[Volume:654;Page:3876] 
JACINDA ARDERN (Labour) 
: 
 There is one piece of information that this general debate should be focusing on today and that is the 20000 new jobless Kiwis whom we saw come out of the March quarter alone. This general debate should not be about the 90 decibels from the cars of street racers. We acknowledge the issue but our focus at this time in Budget week should be on the 20000 new jobless Kiwis whom we saw in the March quarter alone. It is the Government’s job to protect Kiwis’ jobs. It is the Government’s role to do this; it even acknowledged this through its very own Job Summit. In forming the Job Summit the Government acknowledged that it did have a role to play in job creation. What did we see come out of that summit? What did we see generated by the National Government in order to address the needs concerns and fears of Kiwis? There were two things and they are being addressed by my colleagues. 
The first idea was a cycleway and even though I do not oppose the idea in principle I do not believe it will generate the kind of solution that we need. The second idea was the 9-day working fortnight. That measure has saved 117 jobs amongst the 20000 new jobless. I will look at this issue in more context because I have a particular interest in young people. The statistics for that age demographic are particularly worrying. In the March quarter alone 10300 young people became unemployed. Almost one in five 15 to 19-year-olds is without work without a job and without hope. What has the Government done for this group? 
Usually we at least hear some rhetoric about what might happen or what the Government will do. I fail to hear that even from the other side of the House. Despite Paula Bennett calling it the Government’s No. 1 priority she has not even produced a statement stating that fact. Since that member has become the Minister of Youth Affairs she has produced on average one statement every 3 months. I do look beyond rhetoric but that in itself is an alarming point. It is Paula Bennett’s job to protect jobs and to help young people move into jobs. The Government cannot abdicate from that responsibility. I have looked for leadership on this issue. In question time today I asked for leadership on this issue. I received a response pointing to what McDonald’s has done. I asked what the Minister’s ideas were and I was told about McDonald’s. 
What else have I heard? We have given the Government other opportunities. I recently attended an event at which the Minister who holds responsibility for Kiwis’ livelihoods spoke. I heard her tell audience members that if someone in their street is made redundant it is their job to know—fair enough. Why did the Minister say this? It is not because the Minister thinks that they have a role in assisting the redundant person back into work; it is because she believes that they should make him or her a casserole. I looked for leadership on joblessness from the Minister and I found a shepherd’s pie and a Big Mac—that is all I have seen thus far. 
This Government cannot and should not abdicate responsibility for Kiwi jobs. We should not sit idly through this recession while Kiwis are made redundant. The measure of the Minister’s success will not be the number of casseroles that are made but the number of jobs saved and protected. Otherwise we run the risk of falling back into the slide of the 1990s when one-quarter of our young people were without work. We do have the time to turn this round. We have seen the first demonstration of the fact that we are on a slide and we have the time to turn it round. That is why the Labour Opposition took the initiative and created a specific Youth Jobs Summit which we invited all political parties of the House to participate in. From that summit we also had attendees from the Business Roundtable trade unions three political parties Business New Zealand the New Zealand Retailers Association the New Zealand University Students Association industry training organisations and the disability sector. 
The same group of people were represented at the Government’s Job Summit and we also had one of the Minister’s own representatives. These people generated ideas that we are challenging the Government to take up. One idea was to reinforce the importance of the Skills Strategy. Phil O’Reilly has said that from a business perspective the Skills Strategy is one of the most vital areas to retain investment in during a downturn. National’s response to the Skills Strategy is to review it. Labour members are asking the Government to look at its priorities again. A second idea was to keep people in tertiary education and allow people to be there—to lift the caps on tertiary education. What is National’s response? The National Government will not even meet with the New Zealand University Students Association to discuss the idea; it refuses to meet with that group.