Turei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Turei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 11 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7318. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
3. 
METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: When he said “we don’t want to see any New Zealand child suffer … children don’t get to make choices they’re often the victim of circumstance” does that mean he will take tangible steps to ensure children don’t suffer because of circumstances beyond their control? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) 
: 
 We are taking tangible steps. If the member read the White Paper for Vulnerable Children for example she would see that we are introducing amongst other things child abuse prevention orders; new teams made up of local education health and social sector professionals to respond to the needs of vulnerable children; a new system to draw together information from Government agencies and front-line professionals about vulnerable children and to provide early alerts; and a new Child Protect line to provide a single point of contact for all New Zealanders to report any concerns they have about children or young people. Together with a number of other initiatives these represent the most significant advancement in child protection in many many years. 
Metiria Turei 
: How does his Government’s welfare sanctions regime which deliberately takes money from the poorest children because of their parents’ inability to fulfil his social obligations fit with his desire to ensure that children do not suffer because of the choices of others? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Firstly as the member will be aware the matter is before the select committee so people can put forward their ideas. But whenever sanctions are applied—and there are examples where sanctions can be applied—the Ministry of Social Development or the front-line Work and Income people go through many many steps before they get there but there are in the end very good reasons why a sanction would be applied. They are also maintained at 50 percent where there are other dependants. But in the end the idea of the sanctions is to see corrected behaviour. More often than not we use carrots; occasionally we are required to use a stick. 
Metiria Turei 
: Does he think that the 36000 children admitted to hospital in the past year for poverty-related medical conditions got there because of choices that they made; if not will he now commit to extending free doctors’ visits to all children? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: We are not in a position to extend free doctors’ visits to all children but we have been in a position to extend free doctors’ visits to under-sixes and I think if you look at the financial conditions that this Government has faced that has been an important step. Secondly I am not sure that it would be in the best interests of the very children she is talking about that we extend that policy on a universal basis because children coming from very well-to-do homes actually can afford to have their parents pay. Let us target and focus more on those who are in need. 
Metiria Turei 
: Has the Prime Minister talked to general practitioners about his view that parents of children over 6 who cannot afford to take their kids to the doctor should simply hope that the doctor will not make them pay; if so what did the general practitioners say? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: I cannot recall a specific conversation on that so I would not want to offer a view. 
Metiria Turei 
: I seek leave to table a transcript of John Key’s radio interview— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The source of this is? 
Metiria Turei 
: The source of this document is from my own office—a transcript of the interview that was given. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: A broadcast interview? 
Metiria Turei 
: A broadcast interview. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No we do not— 
Metiria Turei 
: —showing the Prime Minister— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! [ 
Interruption 
] Order! Members should know better than to use that process to try to enhance their statements because we do not table transcripts of— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. We have had rulings in the past about generally available transcripts of radio interviews but whether radio interviews that are not now available to members—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! It is a point of order and it should not be interjected on. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: My understanding is that if that interview is not available for rebroadcast and this transcript is available—not otherwise available—then it has been the practice to at least put it to the House. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! I should have—[ 
Interruption 
] Order! This is a point of order. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! Both sides should come to order. I apologise to the member. I should have checked when the interview took place. If it took place a year or two ago then no problem. If it is a very recent interview though then it is available. Such transcripts are readily available. I will just check with the member. 
Metiria Turei 
: The interview took place yesterday but there is no transcript of this interview available to members. So— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! To deal with the problem I will seek the leave of the House and that will settle the matter. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. First of all this whole ruling should change when the Prime Minister puts the issue in contention. He claims that he cannot remember what he said yesterday and the second thing he said was— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! The member is now using the point of order process to try to score a political point. [ 
Interruption 
] Order! The House will stop and he will not do that. Sure we could do that in the old days but not any more. The easiest way to settle this is to seek the leave of the House and I will do that. Leave is sought for that transcript to be tabled. Is there any objection? There is objection. 
Metiria Turei 
: If the Prime Minister does not want to see children suffer why has he immediately ruled out a universal child payment for the under-fives despite the Children’s Commissioner’s group of experts recommending that it would make life better for a quarter of a million New Zealand children and be a genuine investment in the prosperity of our country? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Because I think that in difficult economic times it is far better to channel those resources to those in need. 
Metiria Turei 
: So if the Prime Minister’s priority is to target the poorest children will he immediately approve additional financial support for the 170000 children whose parents are beneficiaries or failing that pass on the child support payments to those families or failing that at least try to protect the jobs for their parents 78000 of whom no longer have work under this watch? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: The Government is channelling resources—significant resources—to those families and the Government is working in difficult economic conditions to try to preserve New Zealanders’ jobs. 
Metiria Turei 
: Given that kids have no choice but he does what dollar value would he put on the lost opportunities of a generation of Kiwi kids who are trapped in poverty and who may not grow up to be the doctors and lawyers and artists and gardeners and even the Prime Ministers of the future because his choice is to help out wealthy adults at children’s expense? 
Rt Hon JOHN KEY 
: Firstly I utterly refute the last point. Secondly it is a well-known statement of fact that I actually came from a very economically poor household and it did not stop me becoming Prime Minister. What made me Prime Minister was that my mother who was a solo mother had the foresight to ensure that I got a decent education. This Government is doing more about that than those people over there have done. When they had $20 billion over 3 years in surplus— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Order! [ 
Interruption 
] Order! The question was asked by the Green Party not by the Labour Party.