7. Job Creation and Unemployment—Minister of Employment's StatementsHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of EmploymentJob Creation and Unemployment—Minister of Employment's Statements7. Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of Employment: Does he agree with the comments on newsroom.co.nz that having not kept a close eye on the unemployment rate he was surprised to be told by officials after becoming Minister that it was at its lowest rate in a decade"?Hon WILLIE JACKSON (Minister of Employment): Thank you Mr Speaker. I agree with my full statement provided to Newsroom. What is surprising is that the national unemployment rate doesn't reflect the high Māori and Pasifika unemployment or the high unemployment in the regions and amongst young people.Hon Paul Goldsmith: If he didn't know what the unemployment rate is if he didn't know what the average wage is if he thinks the free market has—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The question?Hon Paul Goldsmith: —I'm coming to it—if it failed in this country at a time when 245000 jobs had been created in the past two years how can the people of New Zealand have any confidence that the Minister of Employment knows what he's talking about?Clayton Mitchell: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. A question cannot be asked with a preface; it needs to be direct.Mr SPEAKER: And I did warn the member part-way through it. It's only in the spirit of Christmas that I let the member attempt to answer it.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: I'm not quite sure what the question was but I do—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order!Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Mr Speaker if I could just address "Corin Dann" on the other side there. In terms of the New Zealand public they should feel very confident that as a Minister of Employment I'm going to address the mess that has been left by the previous Government. And we're going to get to people who have been ignored in the regions and particularly in South and west Auckland.Mr SPEAKER: Before I take either of the supplementaries I am going to ask Mr Jackson to withdraw that comment. I think he managed to insult both a member of the House and a member of the gallery at the same time. He will withdraw.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: I withdraw and apologise Mr Speaker.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Can the Minister tell the House how he thinks most jobs are created in New Zealand?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Well that's a wide-ranging question but it's a good question. Probably through innovativeness and creativity and this Government has that in abundance.Jo Luxton: How does the unemployment rate for young people and Māori compare to the national rate?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Oh that's a terrific question. I'm advised that the unemployment rate for 15- to 24-year-olds is 13 percent and for Māori 20.4 percent compared with a national rate as we know of 4.6 percent. It's important to note that the gap between the Māori rate and the national rate persists and is sizable nearly double and that the same trend is observed for Pasifika people—and I want to mention disabled people here today too. So I think that we need to take note of this unlike the previous Government who I think should take full responsibility for the negative statistics that we have right now.Hon Paul Goldsmith: When he wrote in the Manukau Courier that it might be time to set up another commission to amongst other things "understand … the current blockages to full employment" and that it should "reflect Government's tripartite responsibilities under ILO conventions and responsibilities to Maori under the Treaty of Waitangi." what did he mean?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: What I meant—thank you for the question—is that the Labour Party has actually got a history in terms of these commissions set up. We had a great Labour and Future of Work Commission that was run by the Hon Grant Robertson and the Hon Andrew Little. I wanted to set up something along that vein and form partnerships with unions Māori and community groups—and maybe a task force also—so that we can come up with a proper employment strategy."