Cunliffe David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCunliffe David: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 15 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:13825. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]1.Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Leader of the Opposition) to thePrime Minister: Does he stand by his statement that “One of the risks for us is that there’s heavily pronounced economic development in Auckland but not in the rest of the country”?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Yes that is always a risk but it is not what I am seeing across the country.Hon David Cunliffe: How does the Prime Minister explain the widening gap between Auckland and the rest of the country when most regions have seen a decrease in weekly incomes since 2008?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I do not believe that to be correct. If one looks at real after-tax median income and compares it between 2006 and 2013 it has gone up 11.8 percent in Auckland. I note that it has gone up 14.4 percent in Taranaki where apparently everybody is leaving—well that is what they told David anyway. InManawatū-Wanganui it has gone up 13.6 percent in Northland it is 17.7 percent and in Canterbury it is 14.1 percent. It would appear that the statement made by the Leader of the Opposition is one that he has just made up.Hon David Cunliffe: Why has annual population growth in the regions halved under National from 0.9 percent under Labour to just 0.5 percent?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I really am truly shocked that the Leader of the Opposition would ask that question after yesterday saying that people in the regions have been left “with no choice but to leave in droves.” In answering that question let us go to the census data—Hon Steven Joyce: Released today.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: —released today. Lo and behold 15 of the 16 regions have gone up in population. In Taranaki they have not actually left in droves; they have gone inin droves probably because of the oil and gas industry and the rural sector there. It has gone up by 5.3 percent. I say this: under a National Government yes those people will get support for what they want to do. What those people will not get is—guess what? They will not get the living wage under David Cunliffe in Taranaki because he wants to pay it to people in Wellington.Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I noticed a couple of times there towards the end of the Prime Minister’s answer that you made as if to stand in order to sit him down. That answer was both long and largely irrelevant.Mr SPEAKER: That might well be the opinion of the member. I thought the question was adequately addressed.Hon David Cunliffe: How many of the 200000 New Zealanders who have permanently left for Australia seeking that brighter future under his watch have left from our regions?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I do not have the exact number but I know this much: 625000—Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The Prime Minister made it clear that he did not have the information to answer that question. Anything else he says—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! The member will resume his seat. I will determine when the Prime Minister has finished his answer.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I do know that under a Labour Government 625000 people left for Australia; I do know that in the last year of the last Labour Government 35000 people left; and I know that those numbers are falling to 27000—Mr SPEAKER: Order!Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Your answer to Mr Robertson was that you determine when the Prime Minister has finished answering the question. Around about when were you going to do that given that those last two sentences from the Prime Minister related to another administration and not his?Mr SPEAKER: Order! I give the same answer to the honourable member. I will determine when the question is answered when I am ready to do so.Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. In light of that ruling can I seek some clarification then on what criteria you were judging that the Prime Minister’s answer remained relevant? He was addressing material that he is not responsible for.Mr SPEAKER: Order! I will be determining when I decide the answer is sufficient. I will not hesitate if I have reached that point to ask whoever is answering the question to sit down.Hon David Cunliffe: What does the Prime Minister intend doing if anything about the potential loss of up to 200 people’s jobs at Independent Fisheries in Christchurch?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well I have not looked at the matter in relation to Independent Fisheries specifically—specifically I have not done that. But what I can say is that Independent Fisheries is based in Christchurch. Christchurch is one of the Government’s top priorities. Christchurch has a 6.6 percent growth rate. Christchurch has $40 billion worth of investments going into it. This is what is really interesting because when this Government stood up for 3200 jobs in Southland those people said to do nothing. This Government did something—Mr SPEAKER: Order! That answer is sufficient.Louise Upston: Has he received any reports on income growth in New Zealand’s regions?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Yes. I received a report saying that real median weekly incomes had dropped in some regions since 2006 including a drop of $45 a week in Southland. Then I received another report using official information from Statistics New Zealand showing that the real median weekly income had in fact grown in all regions of New Zealand by an average of 6 percent and in Southland the real median weekly income had grown by $53 a week before tax and $76 a week when you take our tax cuts into account. So I wonder which one to believe: the Government Statistician or David Cunliffe? I am going with the Government Statistician.Hon David Cunliffe: What will the Prime Minister say to the up to 90 scientists losing their jobs at Invermay Agricultural Centre near Dunedin or to the people of Dunedin who have already lost the jobs—closed down on his watch—at Hillside railway workshops?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The first thing I would say to them is that the consultation process is ongoing so that has not been completed. But you see when I go to Palmerston North—if a decision is made about what is happening at Invermay Agricultural Centre and those people are relocated to Lincoln or Palmerston North—and that is a seat by the way held by Labour I will be saying that those people are coming to the regions from that area. You see if I went to a Council of Trade Union’s speech I would say the same thing to the media—Mr SPEAKER: Order! That answer was long enough.Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Throughout the Prime Minister’s answers today in almost every answer he has gone into material that either he is not responsible for or is not relevant to the question. I ask you to hold him—Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! I invite the member to consider the question that was asked and then the content of the answer. It was about 90 scientists who may lose their jobs at Invermay Agricultural Centre. The Prime Minister talked about consultation ongoing and then talked about a visit to Palmerston North and at that stage I rose to my feet. If the member is going to continue to interject I will have no hesitation in asking Grant Robertson to be leaving the House.