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: Is he satisfied with the outcomes taxpayers are getting from the increase in Government spending from $76 billion in 2017 to $129 billion in the current financial year?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Prime Minister): Yes particularly the following: 70000 fewer children in poverty than when we took office; record levels of R & D expenditure incentivised by the R & D tax credit; an economy that's added 22000 new jobs in the first three months of this year and average hourly wages rising by 7.6 percent; unemployment that's been below 4 percent for seven consecutive quarters—a feat National didn't achieve in even one quarter—a 61 percent increase in the number of apprentices in a 2½-year period; Pharmac providing 75 new medicines and widening the access to 137 different treatments; nearly 3000 more teachers and an increase in the maximum base salary rate for secondary teachers of nearly 20 percent—twice the increase that they got under the nine years of National—reduced class sizes in years 4 to 8; 10000 more children receiving specialist learning support than when we took office; 1300 more classrooms; 63 million free healthy school lunches that have been served to our children; reversing National's cuts to the childcare assistance; 2.8 million New Zealanders now having access to primary mental health care; the reduced cost of seeing a doctor through the extension of low-cost doctors visits to children under the age of 14; more than 4000 more nurses; 20 percent more doctors; graduate nurse salaries increasing 35 percent since 2017; a 50 percent increase in road maintenance funding repairing more than 54000 potholes. The list could go on.Christopher Luxon: So why despite spending $5 billion on education are only half of our children going to school regularly and why has academic achievement gone backwards? Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: First of all I think the member needs to be careful when he talks about regular attendance measures given that the regular attendance measures last year were severely impacted by the number of children at home because they had to be because they were isolating with COVID-19. In terms of the most recent performance measures in terms of student achievement he could refer to the Programme for International Student Assessment study for example that refers to 15-year-olds who did their formative years of schooling when they got their foundation literacy and numeracy skills during the reign of national standards.Christopher Luxon: Why despite spending $12.6 billion more on health has every single health measure of performance including emergency department wait times specialist wait times and immunisations got worse? Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The member might like to forget the fact that we've had a global pandemic that has put our health system under significant pressure but actually it does reflect the rundown state of the health system when we became the Government and the work that we have had to do to fix that. For example we have had a shortage of doctors—we have had shortages in the health workforce that we have been focused on turning around.Christopher Luxon: Why despite spending $2.3 billion more on law and order is violent crime up 33 percent retail crime up 103 percent and it's quite OK to have a ram raid every 15 hours in this country now?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: Ram raids are a disgrace and they are absolutely not acceptable. That's why we're backing the police to tackle that it's why we're putting 1800 extra police on the beat and if the ratio of police to population hadn't declined as it did under National perhaps we wouldn't have inherited such a bad situation.Christopher Luxon: How is it possible that despite widespread worker shortages there are almost 50000 more people on jobseeker unemployment benefit and there are 36000 more kids growing up in benefit-dependent homes?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The member chooses to ignore the fact that we've got record numbers of people in employment when he's talking about unemployment numbers. We have record numbers of people in employment. It's no wonder that Nicola Willis is doing so well in Auckland business circles.Christopher Luxon: Does he stand by his Government's decision to spend $51 million on a cancelled bike bridge over $70 million on light rail that will never be built and tens of millions of dollars reducing speed limits to literally slow Kiwis down?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I note that the member refers to all things where money has been spent in order to explain how he's going to pay for his future spending commitments. Is he going to go and ask for that money back again because he still hasn't outlined how he is going to pay for any of the commitments that he has made where the National Party seems to think you can both increase spending and decrease spending at the same time.Christopher Luxon: Is it acceptable that his Government is spending a billion dollars more each and every week and yet delivering lower immunisation rates longer health wait times higher rents more kids in benefit-dependent homes and fewer kids going to school regularly?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I note that one of the biggest drivers of increases in Government spending have been increased wages—money that is being spent on people. And I want to know from his public comments why he does not regard teachers nurses police and firefighters as everyday New Zealanders—why does he not think that those people who go to work every day in the service of New Zealand are not everyday New Zealanders?Christopher Luxon: When will he finally understand that just spending more money doesn't mean anything if outcomes keep going backwards and life keeps getting harder for Kiwis?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The member clearly didn't listen to the primary answer I gave to the question. He might not like to hear the evidence of the change that that spending is making to the lives of New Zealanders. The 70000 fewer kids who are living in poverty under this Government don't think that that's a waste of money—like he seems to think.David Seymour: Why can't the Prime Minister defend his Government's record on healthcare waiting lists school attendance or safety on the streets without mentioning the word COVID"?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I'm pleased the member raised the issue of healthcare waiting lists because as a local member of Parliament I recall the number of constituents who came into my office with a letter that said they had been referred by their GP to get a first specialist assessment but because the waiting lists required that people who were put on the waiting list had to be seen within six months and the waiting list was full they simply couldn't be put on the waiting list in the first place. Unlike the tactics employed by the previous Government that stopped people getting on to the waiting list in the first place we are actually focused on making sure people get the healthcare that they deserve.David Seymour: Is the Prime Minister aware that the number of operations actually taking place across the healthcare system has plummeted in recent years and does that mean this Government's real innovation is to start being honest that people aren't going to get an operation under them?Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: We have to acknowledge the fact that our healthcare workforce on the front lines were the people that experienced some of the worst effects of COVID-19. They were more exposed to COVID-19 last year when it arrived into the country and probably a greater proportion of them ended up being at home. That did have a disruptive effect on the overall health system. I think we should be grateful to our health workforce for the fact that they were on the front lines of the COVID-19 response and we should acknowledge that rather than trying to pretend as the member does now that the global pandemic never happened."