Turei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTurei Metiria: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 04 March 2014. Volume:696;Page:16247. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]7.METIRIA TUREI (Co-Leader—Green) to thePrime Minister: Does he have confidence in all his ministers?Rt Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister): Yes.Metiria Turei: What action will the Prime Minister take to correct the record given that he his Minister of Finance his Minister for Social Development and others have spent the past 3 months claiming that inequality and poverty have not worsened under National when in fact they knew that 45000 more children are living in poverty than when National took power?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: None; we stand by the view that income inequality is not widening.Metiria Turei: Can the Prime Minister confirm that he was wrong when he said in his state of the nation speech that the poor are not getting poorer when in fact 285000 New Zealand children—20000 more than estimated—are living in poverty?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No I was right.Metiria Turei: Why did the Prime Minister mislead the House on 29 January when he said: “inequality has not been widening in the last 10 years; it has been very consistent over the last 10 years.” when in fact inequality was declining before National took power and then rose to historic levels?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I did not and the member is wrong.Metiria Turei: Is the Prime Minister concerned that staff from the Minister of Finance’s office hand-delivered information to the press gallery in January arguing that inequality was flat-lining when the Minister of Finance and his office knew that the data they were relying on was wrong; if so what will he do about that?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: In fact members of Mr English’s staff were right. I can actually see I suppose why people do hand-deliver things because if you email them you are bound to email your policy as the Labour Party has done to the National Party this afternoon.Metiria Turei: That answer did not address the question at all. It was a straight question it was—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The question was whether the Prime Minister is concerned about—[Interruption] Order! I am on my feet. The question was whether the Prime Minister is concerned about members of the staff in the Minister of Finance’s office hand-delivering information. He said he saw no concern in that at all.Metiria Turei: Given that we all now know that 45000 more children are living in poverty than before National came to power was Paula Bennett correct to say on 12 February this year that over the past 5 years on every measure child poverty has flat-lined; if not what will the Prime Minister do to make sure she corrects the record?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Firstly I would need to check the details of exactly what was said because as we often know things are taken out of context or are incorrect. But I think it is worth just taking a second to reflect on the situation because the member is quite wrong. Income inequality is not growing in New Zealand; it is flat-lining. Secondly this is a Government that has spent billions and billions and billions of dollars. It has actually had to borrow to support the most vulnerable and at-risk New Zealanders. It might be very inconvenient for the member to have to acknowledge the great work that the National Government has done in the last 5½ years in this area but actually these are the facts.Metiria Turei: Does the Prime Minister not really believe that the public can see that he is simply dancing on the head of a pin to suggest that inequality is decliningwhen in fact since the extreme high in 2010 it has corrected slightly to settle at near record high levels?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I stand by the view that there is no evidence to support that income inequality is widening. I know that the member does not want to accept Bryan Perry’s work but that is the definitive study in this area and it is correct. If the member wanted to add everything into her numbers she would come up with the same results that Bryan Perry does and that is that income inequality has been flat-lining over the course of the last decade or so.Metiria Turei: Is the Prime Minister suggesting that revelations that child poverty is much worse than previously thought and that 45000 more children are living in poverty under his Government should make no difference to his policy programme for those 45000 children?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The Government deals with real people not historical data. In fact the Government borrowed billions of dollars to support the most at-risk New Zealanders during this time and was absolutely right to do so. If anything the data confirms just how right we were to borrow those billions of extra dollars to support these youngsters.Hon David Parker: Is the Prime Minister aware that in the Perry report which relies upon income inequality figures those income equality figures exclude capital gains which are concentrated amongst the most wealthy?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well I do not have all the details of every number that is in and out. But if the member wants to progress a comprehensive capital gains tax it is going to be very interesting to have that discussion on the campaign trail when Mr Cunliffe will be telling New Zealanders they will be facing a capital gains tax on their family home. But maybe he will not say exactly the same thing to them that he says to others which we are getting many reports of at the moment.Metiria Turei: Is it not the truth that amidst a major national debate about inequality and poverty the Prime Minister and his Ministers used data they knew to be wrong to mislead the public into thinking that child poverty was not a national crisis?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: In a word no.Metiria Turei: Now that the Prime Minister knows that 45000 more children are living in poverty since he became Prime Minister will he finally acknowledge that not a single policy of his or his Government has alleviated the appalling poverty that each of these children and their families are suffering?Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well all that really shows you is how out of touch that member is because 60 percent of all children in New Zealand who are registered in poverty as defined by the OECD measure are those living in welfare-based homes. There are 1500 people going off welfare a week into work as a result of the National-led Government. Every policy that I see from the Greens would put those people back in the dole queue. If that is what the member wants she should keep advancing the sorts of policies that she is.