Ardern Jacinda: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ardern Jacinda: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 28 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:575. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
7. 
JACINDA ARDERN (Labour) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development 
: Does she stand by her statement “There are jobs”? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development) 
: 
 Yes and the authentication shows that the statement was from last year 4 February 2011. This was when the unemployment rate was at 6.8 percent and benefit numbers were at 354058 people. I am pleased to inform the member that since then 78810 working-age beneficiaries have cancelled their benefits specifically to go into work and the unemployment rate is now at 6.3 percent. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Does she attribute the 96.5 percent increase in unemployment benefit figures since 2008 to the lack of jobs or a sudden dramatic change in attitude to work? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: That member might have her head in the sand but we actually went through the worst global recession that the world had seen in some time. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The question was not exactly without some loading and therefore some response from the Minister was not totally unexpected but I think starting in the way that the Minister did was not that helpful. It would be better to get some answer out before making a political comment. 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: Thank you Mr Speaker. It just seems that the Opposition wants to ignore actually the implications of a worldwide recession which has had an effect in New Zealand. What I will say is that over the last 12 months we have seen more people come off benefits. We see that unemployment levels are at a lower level than they were 12 months ago. Certainly under that Government in the 2000s we saw the sickness benefit going up by 17000 people and the invalids benefit going up. You know what we have done is have a better focus on what people can do instead of what they cannot and that is making a difference. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Does she agree with the Ministry of Social Development’s briefing to the incoming Minister that the key driver in the increase in the number of people on the domestic purposes benefit from the low in 2008 was “New Zealand’s weak labour market”? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: I obviously believe that there is a combination of things that have an effect on the numbers that are on benefits. So for some it is because they simply cannot find a job and are looking for others it is because the policy settings are wrong and we have not got them right and for others I think it is because we are not giving them the right sort of support and training and are not wrapping the right kind of support round them. So it is a combination of factors that leads to people being unemployed. 
Jacinda Ardern 
: Does she then agree that the 96.5 percent increase in unemployment benefit numbers and advice from the Ministry of Social Development on the domestic purposes benefit show that the larger issue the Government is yet to address is the performance of the New Zealand economy? 
Hon PAULA BENNETT 
: I think when we particularly look at teen parents—and I think it has been overlooked that the emphasis is going on them in these welfare reforms—we do also need to look at young women who are going on the benefit with very little support for them. So we are putting far more support around them and I think that will make a difference to their getting into the workforce and actually having the training and the skills they need so that they can make a difference. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That was a question with a political edge but it was quite specifically about labour market issues; it was nothing to do with teen parents at all. [ 
Interruption 
]  
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The question asked whether the Minister agreed with a certain statement and the answer indicated that she did not totally agree with it at all and she gave a dimension that she rather more agreed with. In asking whether Ministers agree with something there is no specific answer to that kind of thing.