6. Question No. 6—FinanceANDREW BAYLY (National—Port Waikato) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 6—Finance6. ANDREW BAYLY (National—Port Waikato) to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his recent statement that the highest inflation increase in a decade was just a problem of growth"?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): I stand by my full statement which was "New Zealand is in a strong position economically. We have lower employment. We have good levels of growth. There are now some things coming through that are the problems of growth but there are parts of our system designed to manage that." I further went on to note "We've managed to come through the biggest shock to the economy in many many decades strongly with high levels of unemployment with resource consents increasing well beyond where we've been in the past." We are seeing some inflation as a result of the level of economic activity hitting up against some of the constraints on the current environment including the COVID-19 - related restrictions around migration and some disruptions to global supply chains. We would much rather see an economy with low unemployment and strong wage growth that is pushing against those constraints than see a weak recovery where economic activity was far below capacity.Andrew Bayly: How did growth contribute to the cost of fresh veggies going up nearly 12 percent in the last year meaning Kiwi households can only afford to buy fewer items?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The beginning of that question was: how did growth contribute to that? By that I presume the member must mean inflation growth rather that economic growth or vegetable growth for that matter.SPEAKER: No no. The member asked a question. The Minister will just answer it as asked.Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: One form of growth we can point to is wage growth which as we heard yesterday is running at 4 percent ahead of inflation.Andrew Bayly: How did growth contribute to the 5 percent increase in the cost of food at their local cafe?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Again there are many forms of growth that the member could be referring to in that question. What I can say to the member again is that while the cost of living as the inflation rate has increased in recent times we've also seen wages increasing including the contributions made by the Government to the lifting of the minimum wage for example. We do not underestimate the pressures that households are under but the Government continues to support households.Andrew Bayly: What does he say to superannuitants who Stats NZ say are among the hardest hit due to cost of living increases?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: What I would say to superannuitants is that this Government is committed to supporting them including through the winter energy payment which I note would be taken away under an ACT-National Government given that that is the ACT Party's policy and that Judith Collins said that ACT and National now need to be seen together.Andrew Bayly: Does he think Kiwi households believe it is a question of growth when their rents have increased by $40 over the past year and more than $100 per week over the past four years?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I think what most New Zealanders would say is that this is an economy that has recovered remarkably well through the one-in-100-year shock that is COVID-19. We are seeing wages rise. We are seeing strong levels of economic growth and we are seeing low unemployment. All households in New Zealand have been through a difficult time. They have a Government that understands that and is supporting them.Andrew Bayly: How can the biggest annual increase in inflation in nearly 10 years be a problem of growth when Stats NZ say it was driven by higher housing and petrol costs—two areas where this Government has imposed taxes?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I reject the premise of the member's question. What we have seen is a Government that has backed New Zealanders to see them have higher wages to lift the incomes of the lowest-paid New Zealanders. I think it's time for the member to just for a brief moment look at the upside of life. I know how hard it is over there to do that but actually New Zealand's doing well.Hon Chris Hipkins: Were there plans to increase fuel taxes before the current Government took office?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Yes there were and in fact over successive years under the previous National Government we saw fuel taxes go up.SPEAKER: Order! I'd hoped that the member might be able to bring the question into order but he wasn't."