King Annette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
King Annette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:667;Page:14553] 
7. 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: Does she stand by her statement that the growth in benefit numbers is “slowing”? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Acting Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 I stand by my statement of 12 October that “The growth in the number of people on benefits slowed to 0.6 percent in September.” The member needs to read the whole press release rather than relying on headlines. 
Hon Annette King 
: Well in fact I did not. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! 
Hon Annette King 
: She made an assertion in her answer. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Please just ask the supplementary question. 
Hon Annette King 
: Can she confirm there has been no downward trend in total benefit numbers in the last 6 months according to her official figures and contrary to her claims and in fact benefit numbers have gone up by over 13000 in that period—every one of them a person? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Yes I can confirm that every person who loses his or her job is a person. I can also confirm that it is the growth in the numbers that I have been talking about rather than numbers themselves. 
Hon Annette King 
: If unemployment is the No. 1 priority for this Government as claimed by the Minister in the House last week why have unemployment benefit numbers continued to climb over the last 6 months now reaching 65281 which is an increase of 41000 in total since National became the Government and an average of almost 2000 people a month going on to the unemployment benefit since it became the Government? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: I think if that member listened to the Hon David Cunliffe today she would have heard that he advised the House that we have been in the toughest recession since the Great Depression in 1929. Quite frankly what I have been talking about is that the rate of unemployment benefit increase is slowing. It increased by 5.3 percent in September 2008 when the previous Government was in office it increased by 2.6 percent in September 2009 and there was 2.1 percent growth in September 2010. 
Hon Annette King 
: Is she aware that she has blamed the increase in the number of those receiving the unemployment benefit on seasonal factors for the last 6 months and could she outline to the House which months do not have a seasonal factor? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: I can advise that member that I have never once blamed the sun moons or the weather like some people in the previous Labour Government. I can tell the member that she might want to talk about the weather and the seasons but frankly I am not going to. 
Hon Annette King 
: Can she confirm that when she told the House last week that 5890 people had cancelled their benefits because they had found work she failed to inform the House that 7769 people went on to the benefit that month and with that sort of manipulation of figures why should New Zealanders have any confidence that the Government is serious about reducing unemployment or any benefit numbers? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: I think it is very important to remember that for people coming on to the benefit it is very bad for them. However the fact is jobs are being created and other people are moving off the benefit. I am sure that that member would actually appreciate the fact that it is good for people to be getting back into work. 
Todd McClay 
: Can the Minister detail to the House an example where benefit numbers are slowing? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Yes. Auckland is a good example where we can be cautiously optimistic that we have turned a corner. 
Carmel Sepuloni 
: Ha ha! 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Well that Labour member may laugh but I do not think it is funny. So far this year the number of Aucklanders on the unemployment benefit has fallen from 26375 in January to 22636 in September. During the same period the number of Aucklanders on all main benefits dropped from 110227 to 108370. It is cautiously optimistic news.