2. Question No. 2—Prime MinisterCHRISTOPHER LUXON (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterQuestion No. 2—Prime Minister2. CHRISTOPHER LUXON (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all of her Government's statements and actions?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Yes particularly this Government's continued action to support businesses to recruit new workers internationally to fill critical skills shortages. The whole world is experiencing labour shortages. We have approved over 94000 job positions for international recruitment. We've granted over 40000 working holiday visas. We've reopened the Pacific Access category and Samoa quota. We've delivered the largest increase in a decade to the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme and we've resumed the skilled migrant category and parent category to strengthen our international offering. But there is more that we can do. That is why we have expanded the Green List settings to include more professions in our healthcare education and construction sectors but as you can see there is a global workforce shortage. New Zealand continues to do all it can to remain competitive.Christopher Luxon: Did Minister Mahuta inform her about the proposed three waters entrenchment Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) after she received advice about it in October and if not why is she still a Minister? Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: As I've said in this House and publicly many times the SOP that was passed through the committee stage was tabled after caucus. Also this is an issue that we ensured was fixed before the final bill passed. We've acknowledged it was a mistake.Christopher Luxon: Why is Nanaia Mahuta still a Minister?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Because Nanaia Mahuta is an excellent Minister and I will stand by that Minister for the work that she does on our behalf on the world stage for the work that she does at home fixing infrastructure that Governments time and time again ignored we had a massive deficit in. It has been a contributing factor to the housing crisis we have. It is one of the reasons that you cannot swim in Auckland beaches right now and why we have boil water notices in towns up and down this country. Minister Mahuta finally stood up and did something about it and I stand firm with her.Christopher Luxon: Is she honestly saying that she considers a Minister holding up a Whittaker's chocolate bar for social media to be a breach of the Cabinet Manual but yet a Minister deliberately flouting a clear Cabinet decision on entrenchment is not?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The member's last past of the question is incorrect; the Minister did not.Christopher Luxon: How does she think Kiwis who have spent months on surgical wait-lists because of her inability to admit her mistakes are going to feel now that seven months later she has suddenly realised New Zealand has a nursing shortage?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: We have had 2900 nurses come into this country during the pandemic. We have had this year 4500 internationally trained nurses—4500 internationally trained nurses—register with the Nursing Council. We've had 900 in November alone—record numbers. The change we made yesterday is about maintaining our competitive edge and attracting health workers whilst many other countries experience a similar shortage and I stand by that.Christopher Luxon: Why couldn't she just admit she got it wrong and offer nurses immediate residency seven months ago as National and the whole health sector was calling for?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The member continually mischaracterises what we did in the first place which was to fast-track nurses from the position they had under National to residency and it demonstrates the difference it made with the record numbers that we had seeking registration with the Nursing Council. We want to stay one step ahead of a globally competitive environment and that's why we made the changes we have.Hon Michael Wood: Does the Prime Minister agree with public comments that have been recently made that New Zealand's borders should have been fully opened in November last year?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Sorry could you just repeat the question.Hon Michael Wood: Does the Prime Minister agree with public comments recently made that the Government should have fully reopened the borders in November of last year?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I stand by every decision that we have made including the member's decisions on bringing back in and expediting the visa processing for those where we've had shortages. I also stand by the member's immigration rebalance work which has meant we are recruiting for 90000 places right now. I also stand by Minister Little's work to improve nurses' pay because it's not just about visas; it's also about attracting people with the working conditions. I stand by this Government's work on those shortages.Christopher Luxon: Oh goodness. She said she's finally planning to tell her Ministers to focus and start prioritising. Does that mean that she's also now planning to U-turn on the TVNZ-RNZ merger her farm emissions overreach and the jobs tax?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: I stand by that statement. I've asked members to go away and over summer make sure that in 2023 we continue to focus on the economy on supporting New Zealanders through what will be a difficult time through an economically volatile period—just in the same way that we have already reduced fuel at the pump the cost of living payment and the increase in the family tax credit. All of this we know has already made a difference to low and middle income earners; compare that with the one idea the National Party has had which they may or may not have reversed.Christopher Luxon: Isn't it the case that she's totally lost control of her Cabinet she cannot admit when she's wrong and she's now just desperately cancelling her agenda in response to bad polls and bad press?Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: No.