Ardern Jacinda: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Ardern Jacinda: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:671;Page:17757] 
12. 
JACINDA ARDERN (Labour) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does he stand by all his statements made during question No. 6 on 15 March 2011? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Yes. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: What advice has he and Cabinet received on how many apprentices and industry trainees are required to meet New Zealand’s existing and projected skills shortage including the demands of the leaking building situation and the Christchurch rebuild? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I do not have that detail to hand and I suggest to the member that she puts down a written question to the relevant Ministers. But I can say that the Government has been doing a lot of work with both the Canterbury Development Corporation the Industry Training Organisation polytechs and other relevant organisations to map the upcoming skills needed for the Canterbury region. One thing we can say is that the picture is still developing but so far it looks like the residential rebuild alone will require up to 12500 full-time workers. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Why has the Government not required that bids to rebuild up to 10000 homes in Christchurch include a commitment to take on apprentices? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Firstly those bids have not been taken yet. Many people do not even know whether their own home will have to be rebuilt or whether a new home will be built. We do not have those conditions on new homes that are built in the rest of the country. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My question was specific to the tender requirements the Government has already issued and asked why they did not include— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member should reflect on the question asked. She asked the Prime Minister why the Government was doing certain things and the Prime Minister gave an explanation. It might not be the answer that member actually wanted but it was still a perfectly reasonable answer to the question. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I know we are not meant to litigate answers but this is black and white. It is about a tender that has been issued and the Prime Minister said it had not been issued. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Speaker is not in a position to know whether an answer a Minister has given is correct. That is not the issue. The issue is whether the question was answered. More supplementary questions are available for the member to pursue it. The member has a couple of further supplementary questions to pursue the issue and that is the way it should be done—not by way of point of order. 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: My apologies. I was confused by the question. I thought the member was asking about the 10000 homes we thought might need to be demolished not the temporary homes. The answer is that I do not have those contract details to hand. I am not sure of the answer but I will look into it for the member. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Does he agree with Registered Master Builders Federation of New Zealand chief executive Warwick Quinn who said there would not be enough builders in the coming years to meet demand and that “We may have to look at bringing tradesmen over from China Philippines or Malaysia”? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: We have had an indication that there is likely to be a shortage in occupations such as concreters carpenters and joiners. It is far too early to know whether that statement is right. The Government is working on a number of initiatives in terms of training new people. I also know that there are a lot of full-time workers in the Canterbury region who could actually work more hours; they have been working reduced hours. We know that there are other workers from around New Zealand. So I think it is a bit too early to know the answer to that statement.