Turei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Turei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 30 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4981. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
1. 
METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he stand by his statement “what we are choosing is hard working New Zealanders who go out there day after day to try to support their families”? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Acting Prime Minister) 
: 
 Yes because they deserve our support. 
Metiria Turei 
: How can the Prime Minister’s policies be helping hard-working New Zealanders when the household income report this week found that real incomes for the bottom two-thirds of households 66 percent of the country have dropped? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: As has been previously pointed out to the member there are many ways in which such a figure can be measured. If for example we took the measure in the years 2000 to 2005 we would find that that was the greatest area of disparity. Even though we have had the global economic downturn and we have had the great dislocation of the Christchurch earthquakes we still are not back to that level of disparity. To suggest that there is no support for people on lower incomes is also very wrong. 
Metiria Turei 
: How could the global financial crisis or the Christchurch earthquakes be at all responsible for his Government’s decision to give tax cuts to the top income earners in this country which has helped to drive the gap between rich and poor to the highest level it has ever been in New Zealand’s history? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Seventy-six percent of all income tax collected comes from the top 10 percent of taxpayers. They have not been excessively advantaged. What I would say is that where people are losing jobs because of earthquake circumstances or because of the global financial crisis of course that will affect household incomes and it is a fact that those on the bottom end of the income scale usually are first affected. That is why we want a strong economy—to protect those people. 
Hon Tariana Turia 
: How can his policies be helping hard-working New Zealanders when a key finding of the household income report shows a decline in employment income for deciles 3 to 6—that is middle-income New Zealanders—or does he not think that middle-income New Zealanders are hard workers? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Of course they are hard workers and that is why there is a considerable amount of Government support in place for people. We want to make sure that that support is complementary to the work that people do in the economy. That is a good thing. 
Metiria Turei 
: Is it not true that under his watch unemployment has grown and there are now more than 65000 unemployed people under National’s watch proving that his Government and he as Prime Minister are much better at losing jobs than they are at creating them? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: There have been many many new jobs created in the New Zealand economy under the current Government. What I might say to the member is that it is plain silly to deny that we have been living through very difficult international circumstances. New Zealand likes to look at other countries it compares itself to and it is a fact that we have come through these times in far better shape than many of them. And yes it is unfortunate that more people want work but the only way they will get it is by having a growing economy which that member’s party seems to want to ignore. 
Metiria Turei 
: If the Prime Minister is choosing hard-working New Zealanders and if the economy is apparently improving why is it that Work and Income has given out 134000 special-needs grants to working families who could not make ends meet in this last year nearly double the number in 2007? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: The conditions in our economy have changed during that time quite clearly but let me put it to you this way. The suggestion that somehow the Government is neglecting people on lower incomes is plain wrong. If we were to take someone with two children a sole parent working 25 hours a week at around $15 an hour they would receive a family tax credit of $157 an in-work tax credit of $60 up to $225 a week in accommodation assistance and a minimum tax credit of $106 taking their earned income of $17000 up to a total package of $45500. To suggest the Government is abandoning people in these circumstances is plain rubbish. 
Metiria Turei 
: How is his Government helping 16-year-old Peniata Junior Endermann who goes to school and works 20 hours a week in a cleaning job because his mum’s minimum wage job does not provide enough to support him and his three siblings? Is Peniata a hard worker? Is his mother a hard-working New Zealander? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I do not doubt that they are hard-working New Zealanders and that they are making efforts to improve their own circumstances. If there is some aspect of Government support that should be available to that family I hope that member makes sure they get it because it is there. 
Metiria Turei 
: Is the Prime Minister saying that Peniata and his mum have enough? Do they not deserve a living wage? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: I most certainly have not said that. What I have said is that they should be commended for working rather than being abused in a political process and held up as some sort of sad example when they are making such a huge effort on their own behalf. It is unfortunate that they have come into contact with politicians who have absolutely no aspiration for them to improve their circumstances. This Government is in favour of people working and we support people who are working. 
Metiria Turei 
: Is it not the case that the supposed hard-working New Zealanders who he chooses are those who are the top income earners who got massive tax cuts from his Government who are the only group—the only group—in New Zealand to have enjoyed an increased income in the past year and many of whom did not even pay their fair share of tax? Are these people not the real chosen ones? 
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE 
: This is the sort of carping nonsense that is going to take this country nowhere. Let us be very clear. I just gave an example of someone looking after their two children on their own working for 25 hours a week and earning $17000 a year from their work but getting total support that takes their income to $45000. That is not a Government advantaging people at the top end. It is a Government respecting people who work hard and want to get on with their lives.