1. Question No. 1—Prime MinisterDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Prime MinisterORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Prime Minister1. DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government's statements and actions?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes in particular our announcements on the weekend to support cancer screening. Budget 2021 will see investment of up to $53 million to complete the design and implementation of a new test which will replace the current smear test for the 1.4 million eligible women aged 25 to 69 years old. The new test will be a simple quick swab that women can eventually choose to do themselves. This will help we hope to reduce the barriers to getting screened. In addition the Government announced support for a new breast-screening system that can proactively identify and enrol eligible women to reach 271000 more people who currently aren't in the programme. These investments continue our work to address some of the country's longstanding issues and help to reduce the number of people who tragically die from these two diseases. David Seymour: Does the Prime Minister stand by her various statements that her Government's COVID response went hard and early"?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Yes.David Seymour: How then would she characterise her Government's roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: In keeping with our strategy of keeping our people well and safe. If you look around the world and compare ourselves to those countries who have had similar strategies or indeed similar relative success in terms of both incidence infection and tragically the loss of life you'll see the likes of Australia New Zealand—from memory South Korea Vietnam sitting at similar rates of vaccination. In part that is because yes we really were at the front of the pack in terms of securing agreements with companies for the delivery of vaccine. However distribution is a secondary question. And in my view I think that we should hold our heads up that whilst we are in a global environment where some are seeing the devastating impacts of COVID we have taken our rightful place in the delivery of vaccine because people simply are not dying in New Zealand.David Seymour: Is the delay because (a) the Government has a working distribution and booking system but no vaccine; (b) vaccine but no way to distribute it; or (c) a little bit of both?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: All of those are incorrect. In fact what I would say is we've been very deliberate about the fact that our roll-out continues on an upward trajectory in line with the delivery of vaccine that we have certainty around. So we've always said we're working towards a July date for general population roll-out. That sequencing is aligned with when we expect having enough vaccine in the country to start that. We've also aligned our roll-out we hope with not being in a position of running out—that's been a risk throughout the roll-out—because one of the issues we face then is if you have a large period with no vaccine to deliver we have staff sitting idle vaccination centres sitting idle and I think none of us want that. So it's very carefully calibrated and it may be that we run the risk at some point of potentially running out but we're working very hard not to have that situation.David Seymour: Does she stand by her Government's action of proposing so-called fair pay agreements for any sector where 10 percent of workers want them instead of the one or two sectors as her Government long led people to believe over several years?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I think just to put this into context we do have an expectation that there will be limited ability to negotiate fair pay agreements over multiple sectors. We anticipate we may have three to four. The one or two if I recall was at the time of where we were in establishing fair pay agreements in the last term in office. We of course will have the limited ability to complete large numbers of them. They will include significant resource from both parties. But examples of where we think these will make a big difference are some of those people that we consider to be the heroes of our COVID response. They are those who often through procurement processes do see a continual race to the bottom: our bus drivers our security guards our cleaners—those who have not been necessarily well served by our system to date. And like Australia and many others in the OECD a system like this is designed to rectify that.David Seymour: How many fair pay agreements does the Prime Minister believe will be initiated within this parliamentary term then?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Well of course whilst I've just given the member an expectation of some of the sectors we think it may be likely that they may be instigated ultimately it will very much depend on those who meet the criteria—and just to be clear on that again: 1000 workers or 10 percent of the workers in proposed coverage or there is a public interest test. But that's very clear. It has to be low paid low bargaining power lack of pay progression long or unsocial hours or contractual uncertainty that is uncompensated. So very clear direction there. It came off the back of a large amount of work the likes of which was led in the first instance by Jim Bolger. That has involved discussions between the unions and Business New Zealand and will go through another process that will involve consultation. Ultimately though we believe a system like this—not too dissimilar to what we see in Australia—will be to the benefit of low-paid workers in New Zealand.David Seymour: How is it democratic for 10 percent of workers in a sector or occupation to start a process which can only end in the compulsory imposition of a contract on everybody in that sector even if the majority voted against it twice?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Well actually the member refers there rightly to the ratification process which does of course require a simple majority of both employers and workers voting in favour. So I certainly wouldn't characterise fair pay agreements in the way the member has based on that process. The member rightly acknowledges though there may be areas in which we have an impasse. And here I think an important comparison between us and Australia: Australia's system right from the outset is an arbitration process of the sort where you are using an independent body; New Zealand's brings everyone around the table goes through a bargaining process and if you're unable to get that ratified then it goes through more of an arbitration-style process. I think that's right for New Zealand's context and I think it's most likely in those circumstances to get us in the right place. The member also mischaracterises fair pay agreements and he makes an assumption that there is generic non-support from employers. There have been queries from employers who wish their industries to be involved because you'll find there are some excellent employers who find themselves for instance—David Seymour: Point of order. Point of order. I actually didn't say that about employers; I asked about the workings of the policy in such a circumstance as the majority of people voted against a particular agreement. Now for the Prime Minister to go on and give a running commentary is well outside Standing Orders which say that she should only be giving information necessary to answer the question.SPEAKER: Well I think the Prime Minister earlier on answered the question and I'll take notice of the member's wish to be tighter during questions and answers.David Seymour: Does the Prime Minister agree with the recommendations of the Department of Conservation's Options Development Group her Government commissioned when it said it believes in the "delegation transfer and devolution of functions and powers within the conservation system to tangata whenua"?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I simply have not read the document in full that the member refers to but nor would I expect to at this stage.David Seymour: Does she think that the delegation transfer and devolution of functions and powers within the conservation system to tangata whenua would be of great interest to New Zealanders and if so why was it not in the Speech from the Throne?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I would contend that actually some of these principles have been contained in the Conservation Act since 1987."