2. Ministers—ConfidenceANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterMinisters—Confidence2. ANDREW LITTLE (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does he have confidence in all his Ministers?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Acting Prime Minister): Yes because they are competent and hard-working.Andrew Little: Does he have confidence in Nick Smith's handling of the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary issue announced with great fanfare by the Prime Minister last year given the Minister of Finance's admission that they rushed the consultation process and it should have been done differently?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Yes. He does have confidence in Dr Nick Smith at all times. He was negotiating according to Cabinet direction. It turned out that those negotiations were not successful.Andrew Little: Does he agree with the deputy leader of the Māori Party Marama Fox who says Nick Smith is riding over the interests of Māori riding right over the top of treaty rights taking no consideration of consultation" or does he just not care what the Māori Party thinks?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Not for the first time no; I do not agree with the deputy leader of the Māori Party on that issue.Marama Fox: Deputy?Andrew Little: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I will just correct the record. It was a reference to the co-leader of the Māori Party not the deputy leader.Mr SPEAKER: I do not think that is a point of order.Andrew Little: Does he have confidence in the Minister for Primary Industries given that that Minister did nothing while his ministry was covering up evidence of widespread fishing quota fraud?Hon BILL ENGLISH: Yes. He does have confidence in the Minister for Primary Industries. The actions being taken by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) particularly the world-leading widespread use of surveillance of fishing operations will almost certainly lead to significantly solving problems that have been quite legitimately raised with the way our fishing system works.Andrew Little: Why does he have confidence in the Minister for Primary Industries when his regulations to stop fish dumping have by his own admission failed and thousands of tonnes of fish have been wasted?Hon BILL ENGLISH: He does have confidence in the Minister for Primary Industries. The issues that have been raised are longstanding and challenging issues. This Minister has got stuck in to resolving those issues in a way that is fully transparent and we believe will be effective.Andrew Little: Why does he have confidence in the Minister of Police when in May this year she signed off on the New Zealand Police Four Year Plan 2016-2020 which showed no planned increase in police numbers and then 3 months later she admitted that we need more police now?Hon BILL ENGLISH: He does have confidence in the Minister of Police because on that Minister's watch public trust and confidence in police is I think the highest it has ever been. In fact one of the challenges for our justice system is that because of those high levels of confidence and trust more crime is being reported and we are having to gear up to deal with more serious reported crime.Andrew Little: Does he have confidence in the Minister for Social Housing—also piloting fictional flying squads—when her purchase of the Cimarron Motel is forcing existing long-term tenants back into homelessness?Hon BILL ENGLISH: I do not think that the member's description of that is correct. Certainly the Prime Minister does have confidence in the Minister for Social Housing. There is major change going on in how we deliver social housing which I think everyone supports except the Labour Party. The current housing market is proving to be something of a challenge but along with the providers of social housing the Minister is doing a good job of meeting serious need in the housing market. [Interruption] Mr SPEAKER: Order!"