Goff Phil: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Goff Phil: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:655;Page:4493] 
1. 
 Hon PHIL GOFF (Leader of the Opposition) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he stand by all his statements he has made as Prime Minister in relation to jobs? 
Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Yes. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: What have the three main ideas that emerged from the Job Summit and that he promised would save or create thousands of jobs delivered in actual job numbers? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: I would say that the Job Summit has and will create thousands of jobs. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Is it not true that the first idea the $2 billion credit fund has produced nothing and has fallen over; the second idea has created 345 jobs which is approximately the same number of job losses that occur in 1½ days under his Government; and the third the nationwide cycleway has become a pathetic remnant of the original idea and has created no jobs so far? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: Is it not weird that the Opposition does not like success? You see this is a Government that goes out and engages with people in real debate and gets businesses unions and the Government all on the same page working hard for the country. I think the Leader of the Opposition should take a look at this chart. It is the Roy Morgan Research survey. I know that Opposition members do not like talking about it but the business confidence survey shows what New Zealanders think. When Labour was in Government the line on the graph was down; now it is up. This Government is working for the country. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: A point of order has been called and there will be silence. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Mr Speaker just because the Prime Minister turns his back on you does not mean that you cannot bring him to order when he does not even attempt to address the question which he failed to do in that instance—as you well know. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think the member makes a fair point of order. I think the Prime Minister should seek to address the question asked by the honourable Leader of the Opposition. 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: National said at the Job Summit that some ideas would be progressed and some would not. In the case of the fund that the banks were looking at that idea was floated at the Job Summit and yes by the banks themselves. They agreed not to progress it because it would affect their capital ratios. But I point out to the Leader of the Opposition that as he well knows even before the Job Summit started—but as a result of the Job Summit—ASB had put up $1 billion for investment in job creation areas. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Nothing to do with the Government! Absolutely nothing to do with the Government! 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: The member does not like ASB. Maybe he should go down and have a chat to them. They are out there working hard for the economy. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: We will try again. What has the Job Summit actually done for the more than 1000 Kiwis each week who are losing their jobs and joining the dole queue? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: For a start off let me take the Leader of the Opposition back to the Job Summit. We were under no illusions when we went into the Job Summit. We actually said— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It is the same point of order that Phil Goff raised before. There is a requirement in the Standing Orders and Speakers’ rulings to address the Chair. The Prime Minister has again turned his back on you. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I am more interested in the content of the Prime Minister’s answer. I am not too hung up about his speaking to the wider House. I think he was actually going to answer the question asked by the honourable Leader of the Opposition. 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: It is amazing how members on the other side of the House have amnesia; I saw Helen Clark looking that way for 9 years! Putting that to one side at the Job Summit I said quite clearly that unemployment would rise over the next year. Why? In part because the Labour Government had let productivity levels in this country get so low; that is part of what is affecting jobs. Second out of that Job Summit came a quite long list of initiatives. They are being worked on. For instance the insulation fund costing $343 million was set against the Government’s Budget which was well received by New Zealanders. It is out there creating jobs in the worst economic conditions since 1930. That is what Phil Goff was saying in January—that these are the worst economic conditions since 1930. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Does Mr Key stand by his statement at the Job Summit: “As I have stated many times I am interested in what works …”; how does it fit with his comments yesterday when asked about the number of firms taking up the 9-day working fortnight he replied: “It doesn’t really matter. I think the fact that it’s there is the important thing.”? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: There are two things. Firstly the success of the 9-day fortnight is not judged by the number of people going on it; it is the fact that it is there to support businesses if they need it. Secondly I suggest that the Leader of the Opposition have a talk with the head of the Council of Trade Unions Helen Kelly who said to me that one of the greatest things to come out of the Job Summit was the fact that businesses unions and the Government were all on the same page working hard for New Zealand. The last time there was a summit in this country it was held by Labour. It was called the Knowledge Wave and Labour could not get anything achieved at that one. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Does he stand by his statement: “I believe it is important to save as many jobs as we can while we can.”; if so why was there nothing new in the 2009 Budget to save and create jobs given the fact that 4000 Kiwis have joined the dole queue since the Budget and 16000 since his Job Summit? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: Firstly that statement made by the Leader of the Opposition is ridiculous. The $343 million insulation fund is acknowledged by I think pretty much every party in the House—obviously with the exception of Labour—as creating thousands of jobs. I tell the Leader of the Opposition that if he wants to make sure there is wholesale job loss in this country this is the way to do it: spend lots of money and get the country’s credit rating downgraded and businesses cannot borrow. That is exactly what would have happened if Labour was in charge. New Zealanders are grateful for a Government that knows what it is doing economically. That is why the graph I am holding up looks like it does and not like it did when Labour was in office.  
Hon Phil Goff 
: Speaking of spending a lot of money does the Prime Minister agree that had he given tax cuts to people earning $40000 or less who are struggling to make ends meet and to raise their families he would have created far more stimulus for jobs than was created by his giving a third of the $800 million to his mates in the top 3 percent of income earners who just saved it or paid off their mortgages? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: No I do not agree but I do agree with the policies that the Government has rolled out: a credit upgrade for this country half a billion dollars for infrastructure brought forward half a billion dollars for small to medium sized enterprises tens of millions of dollars for the Export Credit Office a 9-day working fortnight a cycleway a home insulation package— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: I could go on. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No the Prime Minister has given us sufficient information. I warn the Hon Trevor Mallard he cannot interject in that manner across the House. In fact I will ask him to withdraw that statement. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I withdraw. I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. What remedy do we have when a Prime Minister makes a comment about an upgrade that he knows is untrue. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member knows that he can use supplementary questions to attack the Prime Minister’s answers to questions. They have been available since the first question. There are many more supplementary questions available to the honourable member. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Does Mr Key stand by the commitment he made in his opening speech at the Job Summit: “We can take steps to ensure that young people who cannot enter the workforce are able to up-skill in the meantime.”; if so what does he say to the 2800 apprentices in the building and construction trades who have lost their jobs before completing their training; and why did he allow the Budget to cut funding for job skills training cut the scholarship schemes that enabled low-income kids to get to university and cut the Enterprising Communities scheme which provided good programmes like the Otorohanga youth apprenticeship programme? 
Hon JOHN KEY 
: Firstly I think those apprentices will be grateful that this Government has brought forward infrastructure spending on roading and housing. I think those apprentices will say good on this Government for making sure we have a home insulation package. I think those apprentices will say good on this Government for having the Youth Guarantee scheme. I think they will say good on this Government for having an adherence to literacy and numeracy skills. No one is arguing that there are not tough economic conditions out there but let us get this right: unemployment in this country is 5 percent; in the United States of America it is 9.4 percent. This is a Government that is working hard. day after day to take the pressure off businesses and on not one occasion does the Opposition vote for anything that will take the pressure off businesses—never.