Clark David: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeClark David: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 15 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6590. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]8.Dr DAVID CLARK (Labour—Dunedin North) to the Minister for Economic Development: What concerns if any does he have about the state of the South Island economy given the ANZ Regional Trends report shows that it shrank by 0.8 percent in the June quarter?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Economic Development): The ANZ report does not in fact measure economic growth but ANZ’s own composite mix of confidence measures and a selected range of other indicators. Therefore the ANZ report cannot determine either positive or negative growth. Secondly it is important that even in the measure of ANZ that particular quarter was a negative one but prior to that it has been very strong. Most interestingly he highlights the South Island economy when by most measures the South Island economy has been seen to be very strong. For example unemployment at the end of the June quarter in the South Island economy was just 3.9 percent. So I do not have the sorts of concerns that Mr Clark is suggesting I have but of course we are always continuing to work and improve in all regional economies.Dr David Clark: Will the South Island enter recession in the September quarter? [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I did not catch that. I will ask the member to start again and could I ask for less interjection from my right-hand side.Dr David Clark: Will the South Island enter recession in the September quarter?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: The measure that the member uses for the June quarter is not an economic growth measure so by definition if he is using that series it cannot help him determine either growth or a recession. But I would note that the South Island economy has been particularly strong. For example in the BNZ-BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index out just last week—Dr David Clark: Point of order.Hon STEVEN JOYCE: —the Canterbury region which includes Nelson Marlborough and the West Coast—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I apologise to the Minister; I have a point of order.Dr David Clark: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It was an incredibly straight question—I do not think they come much straighter than that—and the Minister has not addressed it and is—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member needs to be a bit more familiar with Speakers’ rulings. He is hoping for a yes or no answer to his question—Dr David Clark: Or an “I don’t know”.Mr SPEAKER: Or “I do not know”. He has got no right to demand those three options. I think the Minister was making a genuine attempt to give an answer and if the Minister wishes to continue he can.Hon STEVEN JOYCE: In the performance of manufacturing index for August for example which is in the September quarter the wider Canterbury region was at 54.6 and the Otago-Southland region was at 64.6. So that and the employment figures and a number of other indicators suggest that no the South Island is not entering a recession.Dr David Clark: Is it correct that there has been a 22 percent—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! That interchange between both front benches is exactly what I am talking about. I made a fairly definitive ruling. If it needs to be reinforced I can do so by asking members to leave the Chamber. I hope it does not get to that.Chris Hipkins: Point of order.Mr SPEAKER: Point of order Dr—Chris Hipkins.Chris Hipkins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Not quite yet Mr Speaker—maybe one day. The issue that I wanted to raise with you is where Ministers begin answers basically saying they do not have the information or they perhaps cannot give a full answer to the question and then say “But what I can say is”—or words to that effect—and go on to address a whole lot of other issues or pick off a relevant topic but not one that actually addresses the question.Mr SPEAKER: Order! The point of order?Chris Hipkins: And so therefore the point of order is consistent with your earlier ruling today that I am sure you would rule those to be out of order in the way that you have been much stricter on questions as well.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Speaking to the point of order—Mr SPEAKER: No I do not need any assistance on this one. If the member had listened or goes back and reviews Hansard as I would suggest the question was: will the South Island enter a recession? It was interrupted by the questioner himself but if the member would go back and listen particularly to the latter part of the answer the Minister said he did not think the South Island would enter a recession. He cannot be more direct than that in answering a question. I think the member should be actually congratulating the Minister on this occasion.Dr David Clark: Is it correct that there has been a 22 percent increase in South Island unemployment in the past year?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: I do not have the member’s numbers to hand but I can tell him that as at the end of June this year unemployment in the South Island was 3.9 percent which is low unemployment by anybody’s reckoning right across the OECD.Dr David Clark: Is it correct that employment in Canterbury fell by 5000 people in the last quarter alone?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Again I do not have that figure to hand but I can tell the member that Canterbury unemployment is the lowest in the country at 3.3 percent in June of this year. If the member is looking for a challenge I suggest he look somewhere else.Dr David Clark: Apart from being a family member of a senior Earthquake Commission executive how are young people in the South Island meant to find jobs when unemployment is rising and the economy is slipping into recession?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Ignoring the first part of the question unemployment in the South Island is 3.9 percent. In Canterbury it is 3.3 percent. Those are some of the lowest numbers on record. The member may try to seek a crisis out of those numbers but actually he truly needs to go away and think up a new target. Mind you if he wants to declare a crisis I am sure the economy will roar away—Mr SPEAKER: Order! I have heard enough.