2. Youth Unemployment—Prime Minister's Statements and RatesANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterYouth Unemployment—Prime Minister's Statements and Rates2. ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by his statement in relation to young people looking for work that they are living in the wrong place or they just can't muster what is required to actually work"?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): As always with the member it pays to thoroughly fact-check what he says. I stand by my full statement in the radio interview which was: "It's not to say that there aren't great people that don't transition from Work and Income into work. They do. But it's equally true that they're either living in the wrong place or they can't just muster what is required to actually work." As I said yesterday in my full statement it was because they may have a drugs issue or a variety of other issues. That is why the Government has a significant programme of skills education and training support to help those young people into jobs.Andrew Little: How many of the 74000 young people not in education work or employment does he think just cannot muster what is required to actually work?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I do not know how many people fit into the full statement that I made but no amount of gerrymandering it is going to make it right any more than when he tried to gerrymander his policy and got it wrong and abused the media.Andrew Little: When he says young people just cannot muster what is required to work does he mean they are lazy drugged or pretty damned hopeless—which is it?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I refer the member to the full quote which talked about the situation where a lot of great people transition through but there are some young people who have a drugs issue and that is an issue.Tim Macindoe: What recent announcements has the Government made to support young people into employment?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The Government has a strong focus on helping young people develop the skills they need to move into work. Today we announced a new target—to have 50000 people training in apprenticeships by 2020 an additional 8000 on the current levels of 42000. The Government has also announced two new Auckland jobs and skills hubs which are partnerships between central and local government businesses and tertiary providers. The hubs set up training facilities and wraparound services alongside sizable private sector projects that create job opportunities giving young people a pathway to employment as well as onsite numeracy literacy and practical skills training. [Interruption] Mr SPEAKER: Before I call the member there were two very loud interjectors to my immediate left. I ask them to quieten down.Andrew Little: Putting aside the Government's latest admission of failure today why has the number of Pasifika youth who are unemployed increased by 67 percent on his Government's watch?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I refer the member to the fact that the Government is lowering the "neets" rate further with more apprenticeships for Māori and Pacific trades training trades academies and skills hubs. What is absolutely true is that we have a very strong labour market. The economy has generated 35000 new jobs in the last quarter alone. We have a huge number of youngsters who are transitioning into work.Andrew Little: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I let the Prime Minister go to see whether he would actually get on to the question. The question I asked related to the rise in the number of young Pasifika unemployed.Mr SPEAKER: As I heard the question there was a part that led into the question which was actually unnecessary but I certainly allowed it to stay and that gave a wider ambit for the Prime Minister to address the question. If the member wants that sort of specific answer he needs to tighten his supplementary questions.Andrew Little: Why has the number of Māori youth who have been unemployed for more than a year gone up by 48 percent since 2012?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I do not have those details but what I do have with me is that there are 17600 more Pasifika in employment in the past year alone.Tim Macindoe: Can the Prime Minister tell the House what programmes the Government is already delivering to help young people gain the skills they need and move into work?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I can. Well since the member wants to know we have many programmes including trades academies which give secondary school students the opportunity to explore trade and technology careers while still at school. Fees-free tertiary training supports young people who have left school without National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 2. We run trade training programmes for 2400 Māori and Pasifika students up from 1900 last year and the Youth Service which helps young people facing particular challenges gain the skills they need to find a job and help secure independent futures. What we are also thinking about doing is running a one-off programme where we will hire one young person with an IQ above 100 so that they can help the Labour Party—Mr SPEAKER: Order! We are not—[Interruption] Order!Andrew Little: Why is it then in light of that vast list of things the Prime Minister has given about trying to help young people that the number of young people not in employment education or training is now 74000—an increase of 3000 in 1 year alone—and that the Government has had to announce yet another programme today to answer the same problem? Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The Government is constantly announcing programmes and initiatives and it has done so for the last 8 years. That is actually one of the reasons why if you look at the 15- to 19-year-old "neets" it is nearly at the lowest level it has been. No one is arguing that there should not be more opportunities for young people. I think the real debate at the moment though is that with a very strong economy that is performing extremely well with very tight labour markets there are tremendous opportunities to transition young people into work and I think sending them bush is not the right thing to do. It is simply a statement of fact that I think these youngsters are going to have greater opportunities.Andrew Little: When he says young people not in employment education or training are living in the wrong place does he mean the 23300 in Auckland the 9100 in Wellington or the 8300 in Canterbury?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: As I said the member needs to go to the full quote and no amount of trying to fix it up will fix up the botch-up of his Labour Party conference.Andrew Little: Instead of blaming young people for being pretty damned hopeless lazy or drug addicts or living in the wrong place why does he not support Labour's plan to invest in young people getting them ready for work and giving them a better future? Just do something good for a change.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I have not said those things and that is just another example of the member misleading the House. But then the member misleads the press gallery all the time which is why he gets so angry—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member cannot say that another member is misleading the House. That is effectively saying that the member is deliberately telling lies in this House. Rt Hon JOHN KEY: But I didn't say that.Mr SPEAKER: It is Speaker's ruling 47/4 if the Prime Minister wants to look at it. But he needs to stand and withdraw the last part of that answer.Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I withdraw.Mr SPEAKER: Thank you.Chris Hipkins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I want to raise a concern with you about the technical operation of the House in that while the Leader of the Opposition was asking his question his microphone was turned off while he was doing his question whereas the Prime Minister went on to make some very out-of-order comments and his microphone was left on for the entire duration of that time including while you were on your feet.Mr SPEAKER: I did detect that as well. I am not sure why that happened; I will look into it. When I stand on my feet at any time then microphones are automatically ceased. But on this occasion I was waiting for the question to finish. It was a rather lengthy question and the bit added at the end probably did not add much value to the essence of the question. I do not control the microphones. I will have a look at the matter. It may have been just a technical mistake I suspect. [Interruption] Order! We will get back to question time without the interjections. Darroch Ball: Does he believe his statements yesterday about New Zealand First's community wage policy show yet another direct flip-flop by National given Gerry Brownlee once said about the scheme: "This Bill simply sets out to say that we do not want hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders on the scrap-heap. We do not want people suffering the condemnation of unemployment … There is nothing unreasonable about this."?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No. As I have said there are plenty of occasions when the Government had promoted a range of different schemes but with very tight labour markets and the demand for workers I think sending people bush is the wrong thing to do at the moment. We should send them into paid full employment.Darroch Ball: Does he believe his statements show yet another direct flip-flop by his party given Nick Smith once said about New Zealand First's community wage "Here we are with this good and moderate bill" and that it was a "carefully thought-out provision"?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No but I think the member is on quite dangerous territory if he is going to quote what the National Party said about New Zealand First from time to time because it could get quite interesting and exciting."